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PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL 
AND ABNORMAL 



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PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL 
AND ABNORMAL 



A STUDY OF THE PROCESSES OF NATURE 
FROM THE INNER ASPECT 



BY 

WARREN E. LLOYD, M. L., PH. D. 

ASSISTED BY 
ANNIE ELIZABETH CHENEY 



BAUMGARDT PUBLISHING CO. 
LOS ANGELES, CAL. 




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ABmm of 00NaH833 
Iwo Copies BeceivdC 

JUL 20 1908 

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COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY 
WARREN E. LLOYD 






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4 



CKITIQUE. 

There will be many critiques written on this book, but 
we are bound to write the first; afterward the world 
may say what it will. 

This text book is based on a first principle and logic- 
ally reasoned out. Were its foundation good and 
structure bad, it would be like a house of wood on a 
base of stone — easily burned by fire. Were its founda- 
tion bad and its structure good, it would be like a 
granite fort standing on wooden piles — sure sooner or 
later to fall by its own weight. 

Now whatever the learned may say hereafter (and the 
learned will most surely investigate this book), they 
cannot undermine its foundation or destroy its struc- 
ture. Call this foundation (principle) an hypothesis, 
if you choose, even a Spencer could never disprove it. 
Should some sage of the Twentieth Century declare 
that polarity is not a first principle, we would most 
sincerely ask him if by first he means precedence as re- 
gards others, or if by first he means the most important. 
Whichever he means, even though will (desire) may 
possibly be the cause of causes, we defy him to show 
how polarity can be wrenched from that same primeval 
sovereign will when it projects itself into objectivity; 
more, we defy him to detach that same almighty will 
from objectivity. Therefore, for all psychology, for all 
practice in living, for all experiment in activities in 
time and space, polarity is the first principle, and no 
doctor in philosophy can prove it otherwise. Being 
then on a foundation unassailable, the base upon which 
this book is built is assured. As to the structure, the 
authors having justified themselves as to the two 
methods of dealing with energy ; first as constant, second 
as apparently transferable ; no flaw can be found in the 
logic from start to finish. In fact, it is unusual in that it 

vii 



Viil PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

emphasizes the mathematics of energy as probably no text 
book on psychology has done before. 

This book is written for thinkers and students in the 
problems of life's riddle. It throws no sop to the 
Cerberus of superstition, it pampers no morbid dabbler 
in so-called ^^new thought," it tickles no nerve of 
religious fanaticism; but straightforwardly relies upon 
principle, logic and facts, daringly throwing down the 
gauntlet to antiquated psychology, and through its up- 
to-dateness in all directions defies bigotry and challenges 
criticism. 

It is a text book for students in colleges and a volume 
for their professors also. The time has come when the 
inherent truths of the various sciences and philosophies 
must be marshalled and related into a psychology that 
shall have no weak point, but shall be found logical 
from its interior as well as its exterior aspect. Of late 
the world of psychology, except where using physical 
methods, has satisfied itself with works on economics, 
ethics and sociology, ignoring to a great extent the 
splendid a priori inner world which flowers the instant 
it touches objectivity. Brain cells and the cortex of 
the cerebum are very well as far as they go, but memory 
and imagination are beyond and above them and demand 
a solution in principle as well as in matter. 

It is safe to say that a profound study of this work 
will have a practical outcome, and we dare to assert that 
he who delves into it deeply enough will find a key to 
the problem of life itself. 

Little attempt has been made in this text book to deal 
with data newly discovered, or facts gained by special- 
ists along any of the lines of modern research that might 
bear on the question, for, once having started in the 
trails of these sleuths of modern sciences, there would be 
no end to the fruit gleaned and no possible way in the 
limited space of a compact work of this kind of dealing 
with it satisfactorily. 



CRITIQUE. IX 

So the effort rests contentedly on its principle alone, 
leaving the world at large to apply it in every conceivable 
way to every possible new datum discoverable, knowing 
that to the pendulum accuracy of the rhythm of polarity 
all data must inevitably be subject. The Law of 
Antithesis is a yardstick divided into inches, and no 
century to come can produce data that it may not 
measure. Comparative psychology is now so much in 
vogue, the researchers along that line inquisitively hunt- 
ing facts, discarding no specimen whether it be a learned 
dog, a mathematical horse or a deaf and dumb prodigy, 
that it seems like reviving the days of Hegel when a 
Doctor of Philosophy comes forth and makes a stand 
for a principle as the solvent and explanation of every 
datum possible. He reverses modern processes and is 
dynamic rather than inductive. ^^The explosive is here,'' 
he says. ^^ Bring on your facts and I can blow them into 
ultimate condition by this never failing law." 

The principle is not new nor mysterious. We contend 
only that it is seldom applied, grasped or understood. 
Modern psychologists ignore it and lose their balance 
in their emphasis of effects, forgetting that married to 
them is their cause as clearly defined as the sun in heaven. 
But this same sun blinds the specialists' eyes, and spec- 
tacled they grope enthusiastically for data as though 
there could ever be a finish and an end to the procession 
of the infinite. 



CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION. 

1. The Necessity for a Hypothesis 1 

2. Physiological Psychology as a Natural Science 2 

3. The Problem of Knowledge 4 

4. Polarity and the Law of Opposites 5 

5. Mind and Matter as Polarized Aspects of the Same Thing. . 6 

CHAPTER I. 

Consciousness. 

1. Consciousness as a Whole having Parts 8 

2. Sensation as Contact between Units of Force 12 

3. The Rhythms of Expansion and Contraction of Conscious- 

ness 13 

4. The Seat of Consciousness in the Physical Body 14 

5. Abnormal Aspects of Consciousness 17 

CHAPTER II. 
Desire. 

1. Energy is Directed by Desire 22 

2. Attraction and Repulsion between Units of Force 24 

3. The Poles of Desire 26 

4. The Effect of Will or Desire in Matter 29 

5. Abnormal Aspects of Desire 30 

CHAPTER III. 
Action and Reaction. 

1. The Double Aspect of Physical and Mental Laws 31 

2. Mathematical and Geometrical Symbols and Illustrations.. 32 

3. Action and Reaction as a Psychological Law 34 

4. Accumulated Causes and Suspended Results 35 

5. Abnormal Aspects of Action and Reaction 36 

CHAPTER IV. 
Emotion. 

1. Emotion Accompanies Energy 38 

2. The Quality of the Emotion Depends upon the Form of 

Energy Displayed 39 

3. The Extremes of Emotion 41 

4. Active and Passive States of Emotion 43 

5. Abnormal Aspects of Emotion 43 

xi 



Xll PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

CHAPTER V. 
Pleasure and Pain. 

1. Pleasure and Pain are Qualities attaching to all Emotions . . 45 

2. Pleasure and Pain balance each other 46 

3. Polarity and Cross-Polarity 49 

4. The Physical Basis of Pleasure and Pain 50 

5. Abnormal Aspects of Pleasure and Pain 52 

CHAPTER VI. 
Imagery. 

1. Imagery is Consciousness of Form and Motion 54 

2. Space and Time Elements in Imagery 57 

3. Form and Motion are Antithetical Concepts 58 

4. Sensation is the Physical Recognition of Form and Motion . . 59 

5. Abnormal Aspects of Imagery 60 

CHAPTER VII. 

Memory and Imagination. 

1. Memory and Imagination are Specializations of Imagery. . . 63 

2. The Element of Perspective in Memory and Imagination . . 65 

3. Variations in Intensity of Memory and Imagination 68 

4. The Seat of Memory and Imagination in the Physical Body 75 

5. Abnormal Aspects of Memory and Imagination 83 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Intuition and Understanding. 

1. The Special and the General in Knowledge 85 

2. Intuition as an Empirical Judgment or as Pure Knowledge . . 87 

3. Growth and Change in Knowledge 91 

4. The Body of Knowledge 96 

5. Abnormal Aspects of Knowledge 98 

CHAPTER IX. 
Periodicity. 

1. Motion and Rest 103 

2. Force and Consciousness 104 

3. Rhythm and Orbital Motion Ill 

4. Law and Laws 113 

5. Abnormal Aspects of Periodicity 115 

CHAPTER X. 
Poise. 



INTRODUCTION. 

1. The Necessity for a Hypothesis. 

The use of assumptions and hypotheses as in- 
struments of investigation in the sciences being uni- 
versal, we can see no reason why psychology should 
attempt to avoid this method. Her failure to make proper 
advance seems to arise from weakness in this line. The 
old psychology had the assumption of a mind or of a soul 
whose faculties and experiences constituted mental life. 
"Whether tenable or not, this hypothesis gave definiteness 
to the matters treated and made them comprehensible^ so 
that our ordinary ideas regarding mind and mental pro- 
cesses to this day are couched in its terms. 

Under the influence of modern science a reaction 
against speculative teachings and doctrines led to a 
discarding of the old hypothesis, but so far psychology 
does not seem to have found a satisfactory new one. 
Physiological psychology and psycho-physics, while dili- 
gent and patient in their methods, can hardly claim to 
be more than specializations of nerve physiology and 
cerebral anatomy. They have no means of going beyond 
the territory illuminated by their physical methods of 
search. On the other hand, most of those who revel in 
abnormal and occult phenomena travel in that obscure 
realm without hypothesis, chart, or compass. Their 
journeys are erratic and the wares they bring home 
hardly worth considering. 

But the subject is far too vital to be avoided. The 
natural sciences are piling up material facts and noting 
laws in which we begin to lose interest because of the 
uncertain attitude of science toward the invisible side of 
life. The realm of psychology must be conquered or 
modern civilization itself is imperiled. 



2 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

With a proper hypothesis, the facts of mental life will 
be explained and investigated wiith the same facility as 
in the physical realm. Also the knowledge gained will 
have as practical a bearing as that which has given such 
impetus to material progress. While the need of a better 
understanding of the nature of thought and mental pro- 
cesses is pressing, and inspires these pages, the application 
of the principles to be enunciated is not within the scope 
of this book. A true and proper analysis of psychological 
problems is our aim, and, if attained, practice can be left 
to take care of itself. 

By abnormal, we mean only that which is unclassified 
and unusual. Some nexus or relation to the normal must 
be discovered; for psychology can no more tolerate un- 
caused phenomena than can her law-abiding sisters of 
natural science. The matter as far as investigated must 
be made intelligible, even if the structure is left incom- 
plete. All principles and laws discovered by science are 
only portions of the larger house of knowledge. The 
beams and structural parts thus discerned will be given 
final architectural shape by philosophy. 

If, in this investigation, we shall advance a hypothesis 
which explains the known facts of mental life and leads 
to the discovery of the principles governing the more 
obscure and subtle processes of inner nature, it can be 
accepted as the true basis of our present individual life 
and a stable part of the foundation in which all things 
have their eternal existence. 

2. Physiological Psychology as a Natural Science. 

Proceeding with the analysis of the problem, let us 
define the field in which psychology must work. It is the 
aim of the natural sciences to explain nature. In one 
sense they claim that nature iucludes everything, yet, 
while so doing, they confine themselves to a particular 
conception of matter and to investigating the physical 
forces affecting it. This attitude is common to all the 
natural sciences. Their laws establish only the modes of 
motion of matter and the properties manifested by it. 



INTRODUCTION. 3 

For this reason, they are all interdependent. Starting 
with the earth as the unit, geology studies its history since 
its formation and show3 the progressive modification of 
the earth's crust. Astronomy pushes the history further 
back and takes up the question of its relation to the 
heavenly bodies. Spectroscopy and stellar photography 
work out more details of constitution and structure. Go- 
ing forward, chemistry and physics begin their qualita- 
tive work. Botany, zoology and kindred sciences treat 
of organic life, and anthropology in its widest significance 
includes all human activities. 

In this series, physiological psychology could begin 
only with sentient life. It would be the science dealing 
with the sensations and conscious processes of living or- 
ganisms arising from or correlated with the motions of 
the matter of which they are composed. 

Under this conception it is inevitable that psychology 
be assigned a secondary place. Sentiency and conscious- 
ness, as thus understood, are not very pervasive. 
The first tendency is to confine them to cerebral matter 
and organized brains. If an extension is made to gan- 
glionic centers and neural matter in general, it is with an 
implied understanding that the search should stop there. 
Only nerve cells are supposed to feel. 

In spite of this positiveness, there is dissatisfaction 
with the situation. Nature abhors a vacuum and dis- 
continuity. By the hypothesis of other sciences, all or- 
ganic structures arise by the continuous process of evolu- 
tion. If this is true, nerve cells and brains are similarly 
created. The point then at which sensation ought to 
arise cannot be determined. A worse difficulty is got 
into by treating it as a wholly dissimilar product after it 
has arisen. We shall not elaborate these points here. It 
is certain, that if consciousness comes from the motions 
of nerve and brain cells, it must be implied in the motion 
of all the constituent atoms and molecules which compose 
those cells. These molecules, however, come from and 
return to other forms of matter. Therefore it was said 



4 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL, 

that the consciousness of the organism arises from the 
motion of the matter of which it is composed. 

3. The Problem of Kiiowledge. 

There is one point of view from which psychology can- 
not be treated as a science with a limited conception of 
consciousness. This arises from a consideration of the 
fact that all knowledge of external nature comes to us 
from sensations and mental imagery. In order to hang 
these phenomena together, we have the ideas of substance, 
time, space and causality. Whether these ideas come 
from external nature or internal mind, we cannot say. 
From the point of view of knowledge, the mental half 
of the transaction is as important as the material world 
in which sensation is supposed to have its origin. 

It appears, then, that the knowing subject stands over 
against the perceived object in strict and complete oppo- 
sition. Nature cannot be understood or enlarged with- 
out the knower expanding likewise. If nature is con- 
ceived as a fixed and determinable quantity, the person 
or being who can perceive or understand nature must 
be in relation to nature in all its parts. If subject and 
object are not in relation, each is non-existent for the 
other; but it is more logical to say that neither can exist 
without the other. The knower therefore, must either 
have relation to the known in all its parts or be a con- 
stituent half of the knowiQ by reflective or polarized oppo- 
sition. This being understood, the problem of knowledge 
is shifted to the question of part and whole. Why is 
knowledge ever limited, if the subject bears a constant 
and indefeasible relation to all of the object? How can 
knowledge expand or contract ; or, to put it another way, 
what is the law under which sensations and experiences 
come into and depart from consciousness? This brings 
us to the question of the nature of interest and attention. 
They are matters we cannot treat here. For psychology, 
knowledge either partial or complete consists in a polar- 
ized relation between subject and object. The amount of 
territory included in consciousness must in some way de- 



INTRODUCTION. 5 

pend upon the intensity of the polarization and fluctuate 
with its rhythms. 

4. Polarity and the Law of Opposites. 

By polarity we mean the unity in opposites. The 
simplest expression of polarity is seen in the mathematical 
signs of plus and minus or in the physical phenomenon 
of the positive and negative poles of a magnet. The 
characteristics manifested are always diametrically 
opposed, but the tendency to exhibit opposite or con- 
trasted properties is in the unit. What you can posit of 
one pole you can never posit of the other. Although 
polarity consists in possessing contrary tendencies, or 
powers in opposite or contrasted directions, it is the 
opposite aspects of a one thing. 

This separation of things into opposite poles is not 
confined to physics. Although polarity pervades nature, 
it is equally characteristic of mental phenomena. Ideas 
and metaphysical conceptions are so constantly polarized 
that faint-hearted philosophers stagger at the problem of 
knowledge, fearing that all conceptions contradict or 
cancel each other. "With fuller understanding the con- 
viction arises that they, in fact, support or balance each 
other. How these concepts arise, with what distinctness 
they stand out, or in what way they show fluctuations in 
tension or energy is a question purely philosophical. It 
is sufficient to say that all discovered laws and principles 
are formulated in terms of these paradoxical concepts 
and that they seem to constitute the very framework of 
reality. 

Subject and object are only one of many faithful pairs 
of opposites. Ideas in common use are as hopelessly anti- 
thetical as are metaphysical conceptions. Space is divided 
into its up and down, right and left and forward and 
backward. Time has its past and future balanced in the 
present. The idea of fast and slow also applies to time. 
Motion and rest, heat and cold, hard and soft, good and 
bad, and one and many are all polarized expressions. 



6 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

Some of these concepts seem to blend into others, and 
some, like part and whole, motion and rest, light and 
dark, conscious and unconscious, stand out with such 
vividness and intensity that it would seem the very secret 
of existence had been compressed into the single term. 
Notwithstanding the necessity of recognizing the system 
existing in these concepts, most philosophers have failed 
to observe their importance or to study them as a whole. 
They often encounter difficulty in detecting even the 
single pair of opposites involved in the simple object of 
search. Struggle after struggle takes place over opposite 
aspects of the same thing. Nor is that the only confusion, 
for each investigator may shift to an auxiliary pair of 
opposites or find himself at the reverse pole of his prob- 
lem without himself being aware of how he made the 
change. For these reasons we wish to formulate the doc- 
trine of the law of opposites so that the dual nature of all 
concepts may be anticipated and deliberately sought and 
understood. And by this very law of opposites the mat- 
ter will not rest here. A surd or irreducible element will 
be implied in every polarized thing. This is probably 
the point of contact of the thing or conception with 
polarity of a different power or degree. 

5. Mind and Matter as Polarized Aspects of the Same 
Thing. 

"We are now ready to state the hypothesis which will 
govern in formulating the principles contained in this 
book. The assumption or hypothesis which seems neces- 
sary in order to make psychology consistent and scientific 
is that mind and matter are opposite poles of the same 
thing. With this conception even tentatively accepted, 
so many difficult problems will be solved that we fear- 
lessly advance into the most resistant and intricate ter- 
ritory. No question can be so obscure but that we shall 
be able to pick up either the mental or physical end of 
it. If it yields so far, we can, by the law of opposites, 
discover its antithetical companion. All that throws light 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

on matter will illuminate mind. Every law discovered 
in the mental realm will have its reverse aspect and re- 
flection in matter. 

The application of the foregoing must, as with all hypo- 
theses, be its justification. The real point at issue is 
whether nature has an internal aspect. By the hypothesis 
she has, and must exhibit her inmost secrets to all who 
have the courage and strength to question her. It is not 
logical nor consistent to assert completeness in a single 
pole. The material world with its myriads of specialized 
forms is bleak and barren without knowledge of their 
inner unity. The heart or mind wearied of the conflict 
of ideas and desires, by knowing the law of its being, 
may turn towards peace. Whether specialized in matter 
or generalized in thought, there will be one world, per- 
ceived and understood by countless minds. By the 
hj^othesis. Minds are the Units of Force in which nature 
expresses herself as conscious. 



CHAPTER I. 

Consciousness. 

1. Consciousness as a Whole having Parts. 

The nature and characteristics of mind appear to us 
through consciousness. We study mind by observing its 
conscious processes, and by noting the laws governing its 
manifestations. Being the reverse side of matter, mind 
is as complex as matter, and is subject to every law 
operating in matter. It is the internal aspect of nature. 
Both matter and mind originate in a primal polarity of 
the substance of nature. 

Let us consider some of the properties of matter and 
see the form they take at the pole of mind. Matter is 
always conceived as made up of particles or parts. 
Nature is a whole made up of parts. Science has not 
discovered the ultimate unit of matter. Atoms are not 
final units as long as they are conceived as having ap- 
preciable dimensions or geometrical shape. Even experi- 
mental science seems now to find that they break up into 
particles many times smaller in size than the atom was 
originally supposed to be. Atoms and ions, then, are 
just as arbitrary units as molecules, cells, organs, indi- 
viduals or worlds. 

But if matter is composed of parts, it is also a whole. 
Force is constant; matter is indestructible. Particles of 
matter always form a larger something which may be 
grasped in consciousness as a whole. Not only this, but 
all matter tends to take form and work itself out in an 
organized way. The tendency to relational adjustments 
is inherent in matter of all grades. In one form, the ques- 
tion is to find out what it is that unites all particles of 
matter in a living relation. What unity exists between 
the apparently discrete particles of matter so that each 
can bear a dynamic relation to the other ? How can atoms 
be separated and have motion? 



CONSCIOUSNESS. 9 

In answering the last question, we come to under- 
stand consciousness. The word conscious means to know 
with or against. A state of consciousness is impossible 
for a single unit of energy. Friction with another, or 
others, is essential to this condition. The conscious being 
is along with or against something and therefore limited 
and affected by it. Consciousness implies action and re- 
action, an interchange of force. There is a coalescence of 
subject with object, the me with the not-me, the see-er 
with the thing seen, the inner with the outer. 

The relation between units of force, which makes pos- 
sible this interdealing, is imperishable, but the force dis- 
played in the contact defines the field of attention and 
divides consciousness into its parts. The extent of con- 
sciousness is always measured in terms of energy. Its 
content and mood vary with the forces brought into 
play. If there is no dealing with or bombardment of 
other units, there will be no action or reaction to produce 
life, and no friction to be measured as consciousness. 
The field of consciousness, then, is limited by the energy 
generated by the unit, and expands and contracts as this 
energy is given forth or conserved. The true unit can- 
not be added to or taken from. It expresses its char- 
acteristics and properties by polarization. The field of 
consciousness is the internal aspect of the unit's exper- 
iences. There is no polarity without dynamic tension or 
play of force between the poles. This tension or relation 
between mind and matter appears as consciousness. 
Through it we recognize the one thing polarized into 
parts. 

To become conscious is an instantaneous process; if 
process at all. An individual lifts his eyelids in no mat- 
ter what environment, whether hateful or likable, and 
becomes one with it, is glued to it, is the other half of it. 
It is recognition rather than cognition. He goes through 
no process of thought in regard to it, until after he has 
married it. He and his environment are one. He is con- 
scious with the help of his environment; such reason as 
he brings to bear on the matter cuts no figure. The eye- 



10 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

lids lift and the individual finds the other half of himself, 
his environment. Or with the physical eyes closed, the 
mental eyes may be opened upon an objective domain 
within the mind, either conjured by the imagination or 
recorded by memory. "Whatever it is, it has been taken in 
from without sometime, somewhere. And at once the 
eye coalesces with it and becomes conscious; made so by 
the friction of the me and the not-me, of subject and ob- 
ject. However you look at the question, there must be 
at least two to make that state called consciousness. A 
unit unpolarized can never be conscious. If the center is 
everywhere and the circumference nowhere, each unit 
would seem to be the center of his own universe. But 
this is hard to conceive, although the countless differ- 
entiated and specialized forms make it necessary. As the 
many must be infinite, where can the Unit poise? Upon 
an alleged center? It were better to say, that the Unit is 
simply the conscious point, or point of consciousness, in 
its infinite environment. Whether this environment be 
conscious or not, it is not necessary to decide. The unit 
of energy, that is self-conscious, is fully aware that it 
could not be so without some environment. It is evident, 
then, that polarity is essential to consciousness, and that 
consciousness is not an act of reason, but instantaneous 
recognition. 

Having explained how consciousness arises and is sup- 
ported, let us examine its subdivisions and separation into 
parts. By the hypothesis, consciousness must have the 
same number of parts as matter. Every unit of matter 
has its mental pole resulting in an interposed moment or 
element of consciousness. If these cohere, there must be 
a world or cosmic consciousness embracing all matter. 
Evidently this is the case, but we now grasp it only by 
pushing our conceptions to their limit. Consciousness as 
we first pick it up for study has a definite and limited 
content. So the problem for psychology is to understand 
how consciousness can be less than the whole and more 
than the simplest sensation. How can dynamic tension or 
pressure result in fluctuations in the content of conscious- 



CONSCIOUSNESS. 11 

ness? Is there possible any separation of physical par- 
ticles or isolation of consciousness? This question must 
be divided so that it can be answered in two ways. 

Consciousness as studied by psychology is always the 
consciousness of an individual or true unit. It is the 
mind of one whose world expands or contracts with his 
desires. We speak of sub-, super-, and self-consciousness, 
or of under-, over-, and central-consciousness. This is 
really a play upon words. There is but one conscious- 
ness, and that is self-consciousness. "We speak of the sum 
total of all consciousness, that is again fallacious. There 
can be no sum total of an infinity of self-consciousness. 
The limitless can never be summed. There is but one 
order of consciousness and that is self-consciousness. Its 
unity lies in the quality, its variety in the infinity of the 
units and the degrees of intensity of the sensations. The 
quality of consciousness then is one (self -consciousness) 
the quantity many, as innumerable as the units of force. 
Thus when we speak of super-consciousness and sub-con- 
sciousness we mean only some aspect of a larger self- 
consciousness than that with which we are accustomed to 
deal. That is, the unit-self within us expands to a larger 
recognition of environment than before. Instead of con- 
fining itself to a small room, it may coalesce with the vis- 
ible universe, becoming less intense but more universal. 
As extreme meets extreme, and subject clashes with ob- 
ject, there is a subtle friction, (though friction is hardly 
the word) followed by neutralization in unity which is in- 
stantaneous recognition. Unity is never conscious, but 
the coming into unity is intense consciousness. Subject 
and object are forever merging and consciousness results. 
The symbol is that of the serpent with its tail in its mouth. 
The head recognizes the tail of the one body which unites 
the two. 

Consciousness, measured by the impulses of force, 
shades off in intensity at rhythmic periods. Not only 
that, but it passes to the opposite pole of unconsciousness. 
This retreating from outer to inner environment is most 
commonly recognized in sleep. The ego goes farther and 



12 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

farther back into itself until the outer environment is 
lost. What new environment is reached, we need not say. 
The important point is that reversing of consciousness is 
not only possible but necessary. Nature forces it upon us, 
but that realm may be deliberately sought. For 
every vale without there is one within. Every prospect 
of mountain or sea can be matched within. The sun, the 
stars, constellation upon constellation, system upon sys- 
tem, the universe itself, each is interior as well as exterior, 
and may be reached by consciousness from either direc- 
tion. 

Having considered the matter from the standpoint of 
our hypothesis, we come to the conclusion that conscious- 
ness is a whole having parts. It is a whole, because the 
Unit of Force never loses its unitary character. It has 
parts, because the contact of the Unit with other Units 
produces an infinite variety of sensations which result 
in changes in the field of consciousness. 

By close analysis, we find consciousness subtly complex. 
An individual seems to be simultaneously conscious of 
many things. Bodily sensations, mental efforts and 
emotional reactions unite in the stream of consciousness 
and color all its waters. Realizing the gamut of being 
from the crudest forms of matter to the subtlest processes 
of mind, consciousness passes through all shadings and 
gradations, meets all forms of the manifested universe 
and coalesces with its moods, altogether equal to the 
other half of itself. The fact of consciousness proves the 
indestructibility of the Units. There is no consciousness 
without the many; a conscious One is impossible. The 
Law of Consciousness necessitates eternally conscious 
Units. The whole of consciousness unites all the parts. 

2. Sensation as Contact between Units of Force. 

It seems well established that the five senses of seeing, 
hearing, tasting, smelling and feeling are but differ- 
entiated forms of the tactile sense, which is but a means 
to facilitate contact and consciousness. The nexus that 
unites subject and object is primarily touch. Touch, 



CONSCIOUSNESS. 13 

when analyzed, is seen to be a means of discerning re- 
sistance and motion. Experimenters recognize this, and 
call attention to the direct consciousness of muscular 
effort, resistance and motion, even suggesting that these 
forms of sensations are received by a special sense. The 
number of special senses discovered makes little differ- 
ence. All sensations unite in consciousness and are spe- 
cializations of consciousness. For this reason we have 
treated of consciousness first. The simplest element in 
consciousness is sensation. 

Sensation, as we know it, arises only by means of 
organs of sense. Sense organs are composed of matter. 
They are evolved by the process of evolution, 
and, from the matter side, are controlled by 
physical laws. They correspond to portions of the 
physical environment and make possible the constant 
adjustment of the living organisms thereto. Bearing 
this in mind, we define sensation as conscious contact be- 
tween Units of Force. By Units of Force we mean units 
which have the double aspect of matter and mind. From the 
viewpoint of matter, there are only aggregates of mat- 
ter or particles of matter. From the viewpoint of mind, 
there are only units^ of sensation or centers of conscious- 
ness. By Units of Force, however, we mean polarized 
units. At one pole they are conscious and have sensa- 
tions. At the other pole they have form and manifest the 
characteristics of matter. The word Unit implies sub- 
stance and the word Force implies contact and inter- 
dealing. Out of the contact of the Units of Force arises 
sensation. Only through their interdealing is conscious 
life possible. 

3. The Rhythms of Expansion and Contraction of 
Consciousness. 

Starting with any given state of consciousness, it is 
manifest that the content does not remain the same. Ac- 
tivity is followed by repose. Attention and alert obser- 
vation are overcome by drowsiness and want of interest. 
This applies not only to the larger rhythms of waking 



14 PSYCHOLOGY^ NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

and sleeping, youth and old age, but to every single sen- 
sation and object in consciousness. All objects in con- 
sciousness wax and wane. 

Seeing this expansion and contraction of the field of 
consciousness, we ask what is the cause. Let us take the 
simplest illustrations, for consciousness as exhibited in 
man is very complex. Considering sight, we see that the 
apparent size of all objects depends upon their distance 
from the observer in space and their illumination. With- 
out change in the space relations with reference to the 
object seen, the visual power of the observer at least sub- 
jectively may be momentarily increased or diminished. 
Also, up to a certain point, familiarity with an object 
brings a quicker detection of it and a clearer discernment 
in consciousness. The diminishing value in consciousness 
caused by distance applies also to objects observed with 
reference to light and heat given off, irrespective of size. 
Distance also tends to decrease the volume of sound. 

The above mentioned variations in consciousness are 
observed by simple experiments. From them we con- 
clude that space and time elements constantly modify 
conscious states. Consciousness is measured on a sliding 
scale. Fluctuations may come from the outer environ- 
ment or from the inner organ. The cause of the fluctu- 
ations is change in space relations and in rapidity of 
vibrations. The matter presented being complex, con- 
sciousness varies constantly. Objects are sensed by pul- 
sations of attention. Ehythms of waking and sleeping 
affect all life. The periodic laws governing the motions 
of matter have their correlative expression in moods and 
states of consciousness. 

4. The Seat of Consciousness in the Physical Body. 

Consciousness, as we define the term, includes all men- 
tal processes, so that if we discover its seat in the body, 
we also have the location of sensations of the emotions and 
of thought. By our hypothesis, however, we are excluded 
from assigning consciousness to an exclusive locality. It 
arises from contact and friction between Units of Force, 



CONSCIOUSNESS. 15 

and therefore has no locality, but that of the Units. This 
is true to the facts as far as observed. The vibrations 
received by sense-organs are but specialized forms of the 
impulses and waves of motion undulating in spirals 
through all nature. Sensation arises for the Unit only 
when it resists or modifies them. Sensations, emotions 
and thoughts correspond to the motions of the matter 
composing the Unit's vehicle of expression. The motion 
is the physical pole, the sensation the mental pole of the 
same thing. 

This being the case, the point in any wave of motion at 
which sensation arises for the individual depends upon 
the organization of his physical vehicle and the intensity 
and focus of his attention. Many Units of Force partici- 
pate in the motions of the same physical body, yet with 
varying degrees of consciousness. The physical body is 
an aggregate presided over and dominated by resident 
forces. Changes in physical particles and cellular struc- 
ture make no difference, because the Unit of Force is 
not the particular physical body of any moment, but the 
co-ordinating energy under the impulses of which the 
physical particles assume their positions. The physical 
body being the tem^porary expression of the Unit, the 
scope and character of its consciousness depend upon the 
energy of the Unit and the state of fruition of the causes 
set in operation by it. Its immediate consciousness is 
measured by the intensity of its desires and the direction 
towards which it turns its attention. A shifting focus of 
attention and interest may extend its consciousness above 
or below the normal, that is to say, to any and all vibra- 
tions in which the Unit participates. 

States of consciousness and the vehicle of expression 
change together. Each may grow greater or less, become 
complex or simple. Differentiation within the physical 
body brings variety in consciousness but cannot furnish 
it a new nor exclusive seat. The extent of consciousness 
depends upon the energy given forth by the Unit, the 
quality upon the portions of its environment appro- 
priated. By ceasing to set in motion causes of its own, 



16 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

any Unit of Force may fall in with the activities and con- 
sciousness of other Units and penetrate to the conscious- 
ness of subtler processes and greater harmonies than it 
is capable of alone. 

In this paragraph we have spoken of physical bodies 
and vehicles. Strictly speaking there are no bodies or 
vehicles except physical. Under our hypothesis we can 
seek no other. Force must operate in matter, however 
subtle or fine. Matter and material forms are always 
manifestations of mind. It follows, therefore, that there 
can be no consciousness without a physical vehicle. All 
bodies and all extended and visible forms are manifesta- 
tions of some grade of consciousness. There is no motion 
in matter without its expression at the pole of mind. 
There is no mind or consciousness but that which arises 
out of material contact and friction. Neither is without 
the other. The permanence of one preserves all muta- 
tions of the other. 

In this paragraph we have not discussed in detail the 
relation the unit bears to organs of sense. All matter in 
motion having a conscious aspect, we say organs of sense 
are only convenient methods of responding to vibrations. 
A unit of force does not consciously come in direct con- 
tact with all the activities of other units, but receives the 
motions through others in modified forms. If the unit 
shows an aptitude or inclination in any direction, it mil 
respond to the vibrations that come to it from that source 
and an appropriate sense organ will be evolved, of which 
organ many other units will form a part. The sensation 
reaches the dominant unit through these assistants. The 
sensation arises by reason of the modification of the 
matter of which they are composed, but the sense organ 
is what it is on account of the force displayed and the 
tension imposed by the dominant unit. This being the 
case, any impact affecting the sense organ invades the 
field of force of the unit and is thus felt. If it is a sen- 
sation of importance, numerous actions, reactions and 
special adjustments quickly follow. They in turn may 
give rise to new sensations. The consciousness of the imn 



CONSCIOUSNESS. 17 

arises from the motion of the matter within its field of 
force and which is dominated by its poles. 

5. Abnormal Aspects of Consciousness. 

We have seen how consciousness is dependent upon 
the motion of matter, and how matter has motion by rea- 
son of its unity in mind. The invisible side of matter is 
mind. The visible side of mind is matter. Neither mind 
nor matter exists alone. They are opposite poles of the 
same thing. From this it follows that all motion in mat- 
ter has appropriate expression in consciousness. All vi- 
brating particles are the external manifestation of some 
grade of consciousness. The forces of nature are gener- 
ated by Units of Force. 

This being the case, by our hypothesis, there should be 
levels and octaves of consciousness. This appears true 
to the facts. All unusual and abnormal forms of con- 
sciousness have to do with higher or lower manifestations 
of consciousness and with phenomena from which the 
average person is shut out by a kind of insulation. The 
rate of vibration may be too high or too low for detection, 
or the insulation may be too great. 

There are two classes of persons on whom these un- 
usual vibrations impinge so as to awaken a focused con- 
sciousness. First, those who are momentarily out of ad- 
justment with their dominant environment. Second, 
those who from any cause have developed a special sen- 
sitiveness. It makes no difference to which class the ob- 
server belongs. The forms seen and the sensations re- 
ceived are caused by vibrations in matter of some grade, 
and at some rate. The mathematics of consciousness ex- 
tends to all its planes. 

There is another phase of this matter not usually borne 
in mind. The rhythms of nature produce countless tones 
and overtones which form a part of our consciousness. 
These notes are ordinarilly not heard and the effect of 
most vibrations pass unperceived, but their influence is 
none the less constant. If taken away, their loss would 



18 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

be at once recognized. The mood and complexion of our 
whole state of consciousness would be changed. 

From the foregoing we conclude that abnormality is 
only relative. Scattered and unbalanced forms may be 
galvanized into temporary vehicles of consciousness, but 
are only temporary manifestations of the Unit of Force. 
The injection of phenomena into the experience of one 
person which others cannot ordinarily verify needs no 
special explanation. Whether from within or without, it 
is caused by matter in motion. In either case it can be 
perceived by others sufficiently sensitive or who suf- 
ficiently identify themselves with the person having the 
experience. It will produce consciousness in any Unit 
that resists it sufficiently to establish a definite check or 
tension. Having shown in what abnormality consists, the 
question still remains as to what occasions the sensitive- 
ness or unbalance which brings about the unusual ex- 
perience or the unaccustomed action. 

In the normal condition, the Ego meets and coalesces 
with the non-ego placidly, without special heat or emo- 
tion. There is a calm participation in the events in a 
harmonious environment. If, for any reason, the feeling 
becomes more intense with reference to another person or 
thing, the intensity seldom rises beyond safe and exhil- 
arating enthusiasm. Such a person may be a poet, artist 
musician or orator. Although accustomed to climaxing 
his emotions, he descends gracefully to the dead level of 
humanity in a proper and well-balanced manner. A nor- 
mal man does even unusual things in a normal way. His 
acts co-ordinate. Their causes and effects are a perfect 
fit and easily discerned. He would be a genius without 
eccentricities. His judgment as to when concentration 
upon any subject should stop would be superb. 

There is, however, another class of persons who are 
thrown upon the outer edge of events and things. When 
organs begin to disintegrate and institutions change, 
there are those who first feel the process and react against 
it. Once broken from moorings, the effect upon each 
individual varies greatly. One will adapt himself to a 



CONSCIOUSNESS. 19 

changing environment without offense to those of either 
the old or the new order of things. In him sensitiveness 
and action combine with poise. Another, not having him- 
self under control, will run into excess of every kind. He 
overuses and abuses his power. He concentrates all his 
energy on what he desires without regard to the results 
that follow, without considering the effect upon others. 
Once launched on a given course, it is only a question of 
time until he reaches an unusual environment and begins 
unusual experiences. If his excesses consist In the use of 
drugs, stimulants or narcotics, he will suppress certain 
functions of body and mind and stimulate others. If he 
gives way to passional or emotional excesses, appropriate 
results will follow. If he becomes fascinated with mental 
problems, and subjects himself to the forces that play 
upon sensitive brains and nerves, he may be sucked into 
unknown depths of the maelstroms of nature's subtle 
currents. Whichever way he turns he can penetrate to 
the abnormal. Having arrived at unusual experiences, 
he is ill-fitted to describe them. He has no sense of pro- 
portion, no fixed standard of value. The thing gazed at 
becomes so large in his entranced mind that all outside 
of it sinks into non-entity. The glasses he wears distort 
and discolor all he views. The normal individual scoffs 
at his incoherent tales. 

In spite of this, the abnormal is the most valuable com- 
ment on the normal. Pathological processes first attract 
attention. In investigating them, we are led to investi- 
gate ordinary phenomena and to discern their true nature. 
There are recurrent states in all individuals that partake 
of the intensity and isolation of the abnormal. The lover 
for a time disregards the rights of others, neglects his 
person, forgets to eat, and is unable to sleep. He sees 
nothing but the loved eyes and hears nothing but the 
loved voice. Should this state of infatuation continue, it 
would amount to a selfishness intolerable to the rest of 
mankind. The mother during the infancy of her child 
is abnormally concentrated upon it. It is a wise provision 
of nature for the child's protection, but should this 



20 PSYCHOLOGY^ NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

state of mind continne in her until the child has reached 
full growth, the maternal instinct would have eclipsed 
and left to atrophy her other powers. As the child grows 
more able to help itself, however, the mother reverts 
to her original condition and her normal self is saved 
from extinction. 

Abnormal concentration as a rule leads to vacuity and 
brings evil results, but sometimes it digs out a jewel of 
superlative value or discovers a principle that reforms a 
race. It defies earth, ancestors, conventionality and pru- 
dence. The abnormally concentrated mind, acting intel- 
lectually or emotionally, may shake the world; it may 
also lead to madness and individual ruin. 

Moods are certain aspects of concentration in con- 
sciousness. They may have their way until the will is 
swallowed by them and an unfocused vagueness and dis- 
sipation of power result. In hypnotism concentration is 
followed by a reaction that takes the subject to the pole 
of sleep or trance. There is a loss of balance of polarity 
in consciousness in all forms of mental derangement. 

Having referred to some phases of mental unbalance 
and abnormal concentration of consciousness, let us con- 
sider a normal growth in sensitiveness to vibrations ordin- 
arily ignored. Consciousness being dominated by rhyth- 
mic impulses, the sensitiveness would appear at the 
crest of certain waves and disappear with the receding 
tide. As an appropriate organ is formed to sense the 
alien vibrations, the consciousness of them would become 
possible. As consciousness is raised to and maintained 
focused at the requisite level they would be constantly 
in mind. We conclude, therefore, that all differences be- 
tween individuals in their power to receive impressions 
depend upon differences in the development and range 
of sensitiveness of their sense organs and upon the avail- 
able energy and intensity of their concentration. Whether 
arising internally or externally, the phenomena will be 
the result of vibrations and will be sensed by reason of 
the modifications they cause in some organ dominated by 



CONSCIOUSNESS. 21 

the Unit and within its field of force. What this magic 
consciousness is no man can tell save he who realizes it; 
but the law by which it works may be discovered. 
Whether the manifestations be normal or abnormal, the 
principle of polarity of our hypothesis, in its countless 
forms, will hold true. 



CHAPTER II. 

Desire. 

1. Energy is Directed by Desire. 

Having seen how consciousness is dependent upon con- 
tact and interdealing between Units of Force, we shall 
now treat of the energy that makes motion possible and 
of desire which gives direction to energy. 

Inasmuch as minds are Units of Force which generate 
energy according to their ability, it is important to con- 
sider how the energy is directed. Like all forces, energy 
is invisible and from the matter pole is seen only in its 
results. It may be accumulated or discharged, conserved 
or given forth. Whether kinetic or latent, it is generated 
by some Unit and limited by the capacity of the generator. 
Knowing the power of any given Unit to generate energy, 
the importance of its relation to given processes can be 
determined and its possible effect on specific phenomena 
calculated. Speaking in terms of mathematics, the energy 
which the Unit can manifest is fixed by tile position as- 
sumed by it in the vibratory matrix which gives birth 
to the phenomena manifested. In other wiords, all evo- 
lution is under the impulse of dominant rhythms partici- 
pated in by graduated forces. 

Before proceding further in the elucidation of our 
hypothesis we wish to refer to the insufficiency of language 
to express fully our idea. "Words are but symbols, and 
sometimes very inadequate to envelope a thought. Never- 
theless, we shall try to make our position as clear as 
the vocabulary will allow. Strictly speaking, we cannot 
refer to force in unity or the unity of force without 
tautology, force being its own creation and beyond com- 
prehension. When we strive to express our idea of it 
as a unit's power or capacity to generate energy we are 
in reality saying, ^' Force generates force ;" in fact we are 
in the realm of the unspeakable as well as the unthink- 
able. Though we strictly maintain the constancy of force 

22 



DESIRE. 23 

and believe that from the point of relativity of balance 
there is no adding to or taking from it possible, that 
is, that a unit is absolutely, mathematically true to itself 
in its capacity for generating energy through its relation 
to environment, yet in spite of this we shall continually 
through this work speak of the dissipation, accumulation, 
etc., of energy as though it could be increased or dimin- 
ished. Force is constant, but the forms in which it may 
appear as energy are innumerable. 

In common parlance we must use these terms, for, in 
common parlance, we speak specially and not from a 
sweeping generalization or completed unity. For all in- 
tents and purposes from the point of human consciousness 
energy does accelerate, diminish and transfer itself. It 
is quite unessential that we go into a discussion here of 
what in the final analysis these terms really mean. We 
refer to our use of them only to show we are not con- 
tradicting ourselves when we say on the same page that 
force is constant and its manifestation as energy incon- 
stant. 

If there were not things there would be nothing, not 
even force, for what is energy but a resultant from a 
clash of desires in things? Without things there would 
be no motion, for what is motion but a result of energy 
or force which again results from individual desires? 
Without things there would be no desire, for what is de- 
sire but a unit will focused upon another of its kind? But 
when we generalize upon these same indispensable things 
that make the terms energy, motion, will, etc., in a sense 
understandable, we find that from the point of relation- 
ship they are mathematically limited as to power, motion 
and gratification of this same desire; and not that only, 
for besides being stable and fixed in capacity, and as 
though the number of each w^re stamped upon it, they 
through the vibrations which they excite in each other 
seem to lose and transfer their energy. To be sure, this, 
from the fact of their relationship, is only seeming; yet, 
for the purpose of conscious life it is a loss or gain, and in 
argument we must envelope the subject with the terms of 



24 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

instability. Having thus tried to make clear our two 
positions, sometimes arguing from the peak of general- 
ization, and again from the plain of specialization, one 
can readily throughout this psychology compare the two 
senses in which these terms are used and preserve the bal- 
ance of meaning to which the two aspects of the matter 
correspond. 

What has just been said applies only to the fixed char- 
acteristic or power of the Unit to generate a constant 
but limited amount of energy. The direction in which 
this energy may be sent, or whether it shall be given forth 
or conserved, is not the same thing as the power to gen- 
erate it. The power to generate a constant amount of 
energy being characteristic of the Unit, there must be 
some principle or law governing the direction given to the 
energy and the purposes it may be made to serve. The 
law to which we refer is that energy is the servant of will 
or desire and may be directed towards the accomplish- 
ment of any purpose. Purposes, however, are of neces- 
sity confined to a field created by the Units. Desire is 
meaningless except as it goes out to others. 

2. Attraction and Repulsion between Units of Force. 

From the pole of mind, all motion originates in attrac- 
tion and repulsion between Units of Force. Observed 
from the standpoint of matter, the motion is towards or 
from a given point, but the mental element consists in the 
desire or aversion that accompanies the action. Assuming 
that all phenomena are products of the interdealing of 
Units, the question arises as to why there should be inter- 
dealing and why one contact should be pleasant and an- 
other painful. There must be some law which necessitates 
the interdealing. There must be some principle which 
determines the quality of the resulting emotion. 

Inasmuch as matter and mind are opposite poles of the 
same thing, there is no possibility for interdealing or 
room for experience except between Units of Force. This 
being without exception, there is no choice in the matter 



DESIRE. 25 

except as to the time and manner of acting or reacting 
and the amount of energy displayed. 

In its simplest terms, desire is a creative effort directed 
towards having certain experiences or prolonging other 
experiences. Its opposite pole is aversion, and aversion 
seeks to avoid or suppress experiences. The positive or 
creative pole is desire, the negative or regulative pole 
of the rhythm is satiety or aversion. The negative pole, 
therefore, cannot be reached except by way of the posi- 
tive. All phenomena from the matter side being meas- 
ured by vibrations, we conclude that the pleasurable or 
painful quality of an experience is dependent upon the 
harmony or irregularity of its rhythms, and the intensity 
upon the rapidity of the motion. Harmonic forms and 
waves of motion tend to reproduce themselves in- 
definitely, while discord tends ever towards pain, silence 
and death. It is evident, therefore, that Units of Force 
are attracted by harmonic vibrations and are repelled by 
those which disturb the pleasing forms within their fields 
of force. Under the law which lays upon them the neces- 
sity for specialization they seek and find countless exper- 
iences. Out of the mathematics of their environments 
arise appropriate pleasure and pain. 

Desire, then, is a universal attribute of subject in its 
relation to object. It goes out from subjectivity to 
objectivity, for the ego-subject can never wish anything 
of itself. There can be no consciousness v/ithout desire 
or will. Shut out all interested contact or dealing with 
the inner or outer environment, and to all experiences 
of sense and intellect the unit becomes dead. In mul- 
tiplicity of experiences in the objective wy^rld, operating 
through desire, is life found. Desire and desire only 
makes conscious life possible. 

Desire operates immediately and directs energy in a 
straight line. It would bear all before it in a single 
impulse of energy. It consents to no deviation until the 
crest of the wave is reached. It is checked only by 
counter desires or by pushing the experience to satiety. 
The impulses of desire meeting desire produce spirals of 



26 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

motion. Only in the climaxes of rhythm is fruition 
reached. 

3. The Poles of Desire. 

The first outrush of energy under the domination of 
desire is always pleasurable. Desire or will is free and 
sovereign. It is the initiator of conscious life, the univer- 
sal priest that marries subject to object. By the union 
is brought forth light and all splendor of consciousness. 

We must understand, however, that desire is not the 
force usually exerted to bring about its gratification. 
Force is neutral and measured by quantity. All energy 
may be transformed. Desire enables man to realize his 
environment, but the perfect attainment of a particular 
desire is in a large measure impossible. Of necessity 
man finds his limitation in the other pole of himself 
known as environment. Objective forms can be approp- 
riated and realized only by the expenditure of the same 
amount of force as dominates them. There is no limit 
to what one may desire. The attainment of desire, how- 
ever, is dependent upon the amount of energy available 
for the purpose. Within the citadel of subjectivity will 
is sovereign. In the realm of objectivity, countless hands 
reach for the guiding scepter. It is a struggle of forces 
in which the greater energy will prevail. 

In passing from subjectivity to objectivity the 
monarch will is inevitably dethroned. In the world of 
objective things gratification is never complete. Desire 
knows nothing of complete fulfillment. A desire ful- 
filled is a desire annihilated. That desire is suicidal that 
seeks complete gratification. The true function of desire 
is to make the poles of being conscious of each other. 
Through subject realizing object, life itself becomes 
possible. Out of it finally comes orderly sequence, com- 
prehension and understanding. If desire is responsible 
for life, it must also account for death. Unpolarized 
desire would be a force acting in a straight line. It 
would be without limit and would show no variety in 



DESIRE. 2 



consciousness. For all desires, however, there is a turn- 
ing point where satiety and aversion is reached. This 
is inevitable under the law of polarity. The fulcrum 
or base from which the desire operates accumulates and 
carries as a balanced and polarized product all effects 
of which desire has been the cause. Satisfied desires 
pass out of consciousness until the effects return as 
causes and the old experience is revived in consciousness 
in its polarized aspect. Passing through infinity it has 
changed its sign. It is seen, therefore, that the positive 
pole of desire is consciousness and pleasure, and the 
negative pole aversion and pain. Unconsciousness is 
timeless. We know only that it shuts out from us 
experiences of which others are conscious. Of them we 
also may be conscious at another time, or on another 
and differently polarized plane. 

What causes desire first to emerge it is useless to 
say. Desire is the father of all causes, a fixed element in 
the consciousness of the units. It both creates and is 
created by their contact and friction. Its operation 
affects all motion and determines the quality of action 
and reaction. It is responsible for adjustment between 
organism and environment, and is the inner force direct- 
ing all evolution and change. It is polarity itself, the 
cause of all separation and the giver forth of that which 
returns after many days. 

When specialized, desire is an act of appropriation. 
When generalized, it is from the matter pole the gravita- 
tion that holds all physical particles in its embrace and 
from the mental pole the love and longing for unity 
that tends to harmonize all experiences. In one sense 
through desire we control objectivity, that is, we take 
it into consciousness and it becomes ours in possible and 
orderly adjustment. We sit centrally in a wheel of the 
universe and with kingly absorption dominate our 
world. In the almightiness of generalization, we are 
crowned and sceptered. But when the God descends 
into the maze of specialization, seeking to wed the 



28 PSYCHOLOGY^ NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

mortal, he is nude, unsceptered and dethroned. To an 
extent his desire may be realized and annihilated, but 
everywhere he comes hard against limitations. Time, 
space, variety and complexity are his enemies. Ehythm 
entangles him. The God within is degraded, and pas- 
sion, fear, hatred, lust, greed and revenge are the crops 
in this jungle that he harvests. 

Yet far back in the essence of his being is primal 
desire or will, free, sovereign and unquenchable through 
its very nature of being. Desire finds its limitation only 
exteriorly in its attempted satisfaction and, therefore, 
in annihilation and death. The conclusion, then, is that 
desire attained is desire killed. Desire alive is unsatis- 
fied and free, making comprehension of objectivity 
possible. It is a nexus between the poles of being, be- 
tween free subjectivity and conditioned objectivity, and 
forced to remain alive because by the very nature of 
objectivity it is impossible that it should be completely 
gratified. Desire is primitive, initiatory, universal, the 
key to consciousness, and, therefore, life. To strive to 
kill, subdue or chastise the will, making it subservient 
to some other will, is in the last analysis a prayer for 
extinction. The surrender of individuality in morbid 
attempts of this kind ends in unconsciousness, trance, 
hypnotic sleep or death. 

If man knows his limitations as well as his sovereignty 
he may wisely seek experience in objectivity. The game 
of life has its excitement and charm. The realm of 
specialized being burning with passion, intense with 
thought, shifting its panorama of seeming illusions, pyro- 
technic in its play of light and shade, echoing with 
laughter and groans, a locality of pitfalls, mountain tops, 
oceans and skies, is the place where the Immortal finds 
his eorrellate, the mortal, where the God kisses the feet 
of necessity and learns the meaning of individuality, 
differentiation, relativity, time, space, variety and, there- 
fore, of life. 



DESIRE. 29 

4. The Effect of Will or Desire in Matter. 

If will or desire gives direction to energy, 
then it affects' matter directly. Being able to 
affect matter, it cannot operate without affect- 
ing it. There is no place where it can operate except 
in matter of some grade. This being the case, we must 
ask whether there can be any motion in matter which 
does not arise from the operation of will or desire. 
Reasoning from the known to the unknown, we conclude 
there is not. All motion of which we know results from 
attraction or repulsion, and these, on the mental side, are 
the expression of will or desire. Being a sufficient cause, 
we find no room for another. The chemical processes 
going on in low grades of matter are similar to the 
changes in the matter composing the highly evolved 
organs of man. We know his consciousness depends 
upon the motion of the particles. The same desire that 
directs and modifies them finds expression also in the 
less responsive matter of lower grade. We define matter, 
then, as the external manifestation of a specialized activ- 
ity of will. Will is a first cause, shaping and finding 
expression in matter. Chemical elements are defined by 
the periodic functions of their atomic weights. Their 
characteristics are determined mathematically. Their 
existence is conditioned by vibrations in which any unit 
may participate. Their permanence is as a beam of light 
which shines into a room whenever the screen which 
neutralizes the constituent vibrations is withdrawn. 

The variety and abundance of forms we see in nature 
are a result of freedom from interior limitations on the 
part of desire. Complete objective expression may be 
thwarted, but the impulse has been given and an 
appropriate form results. A cause has gone forth. 
Motion necessarily results until action and reaction are 
equal. Desire, therefore, works in every field. It is 
neither strong nor weak, but may use a great amount 
of energy or give impulse barely sufficient to arouse con- 
sciousness. For these reasons it is evident that there are 



80 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

all gradations of desire from vague and half-conscious 
longings, in which many participate, to the most special- 
ized passions which can stir to action or arouse emotion. 

5. Abnormal Aspects of Desire. 

Desire may become abnormal and bring about a want 
of adjustment with environment in two ways: First, 
one may put such intensity into his thoughts or actions 
along a particular line as almost immediately to reach 
a position out of harmony with others. Second, he may 
over a long period of time direct a small amount of 
energy towards the gratification of some desire until the 
accumulated product will break forth and overwhelm 
him or morbidly dominate his thoughts and actions. In 
either case he will act in an unusual manner, and appear 
abnormal. 

In spite of the great differences manifested, over- 
mastering passions and morbid appetites have but one 
source. They are specialized forms of desire, their 
intensity depending upon the strength of the unit or the 
length of time he has directed energy towards the accom- 
plishment of his purpose. In the case of accumulated 
emotions, it is evident that there is some suspension of 
the sequence of cause and effect, some interval before the 
reaction follows the original impulse. This is made 
possible by the participation of other units in the 
original emotions. Vibrations produced in any manner 
tend to awake corresponding vibrations in all beings at 
the same state of organization and tension. Having 
responded and acted in concert, they are under the 
influence of all recurring rhythms, each intensifying and 
enhancing the activity of the other until the climax of 
the experience is reached and .the ebb flow of the tide 
sets in. 

We conclude, therefore, that appetites are built up by 
the seeking of emotions not in themselves abnormal and 
that the most terrible of passions are manifestations of 
energy which may be controlled and directed in other 
channels of desire. 



CHAPTER III. 
Action and Reaction. 

1. The Double Aspect of Physical and Mental Laws. 

Inasmuch as mind and matter by our hypothesis are 
opposite poles of the same thing, we are at liberty to 
take up any important principle or concept and examine 
it from either aspect. All laws that have been established 
by physical science will have their expression at the 
mental pole. All principles regulating the operations of 
mind will be found to have a reverse aspect in the physi- 
cal world. No definition of a law or principle can 
therefore be complete until the characteristics at each 
pole have been observed and the double aspect of its 
operation understood. 

This being the case, all organisms and forms resulting 
from natural processes will have both an internal and an 
external aspect. The lowest grades of material sub- 
stances have structural parts and characteristics determ- 
ined by resident forces as truly as higher forms. We 
encounter polarity and the rhythms of action and re- 
action wherever we turn. It is this double nature of 
things that makes them what they are. Through 
polarity they expand into being, and the actions and 
reactions which constitute their life are nothing other 
than polarity expressed as motion and rhythm. 

Considering polarity and rhythm as laws of universal 
application, we can understand why language must have 
a double aspect. It is the mediator between the physical 
and the mental. Facing both ways, it partakes of the 
characteristics of each. It is a means by which the 
vibrations in us which stand for the consciousness of 
some special thing are awakened in others who have had 
or are capable of having the same experiences. It is a 
specialized form of contact and intercourse between 
Units of Force. By means of it energy is given forth 



32 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

and received. It is thought and vibrations in matter at 
the same time. No vibrations in matter can be awakened 
except by Force, The experience of each individual 
tends to reproduce itself in all others. All vibrations in 
matter, whether of coarse or fine grade, go out until 
they reach the limit prescribed by the form of the con- 
ducting medium and in time inevitably return to their 
source. 

This going forth and returning of the wave of vibra- 
tion is the action and reaction which appears in all 
natural processes. ' Varied in form, often obscure in 
operation, it still is one of the greatest laws and is mani- 
fested both at the pole of matter and at the pole of mind. 

2. Mathematical and Geometrical Symbols and Illus- 
trations. 

"We stated in the preceding paragraph that vibrations 
in matter go out until they reach the limit prescribed by 
the form of the conducting medium and then return to 
their source. If this be true, it must also be true that 
there is no form of tension of material substances capable 
of producing vibrations which will not ultimately return 
the impulses to their source. We can make the matter 
clearer by illustrations. 

The simplest vibrations we can observe are the oscil- 
lations of a pendulum. In a pendulum, we have the three 
elements of the fixed point of suspension, the cord which 
holds the weight up with the gravity which pulls the 
weight down, and the impulse from without which sets 
the pendulum in motion. Give the pendulum an impulse 
at right angles to its line of suspension and it will swing 
back and forth, its point tracing the segment of an arc 
of a circle. Were there no atmospheric or other friction, 
the pendulum would continue its motion without ceas- 
ing. At each oscillation it would return to and through 
the original point where the weight hung at rest, being 
also the point at which the impulse of energy was re- 
ceived. By every vibration, then, the whole amount of 



ACTION AND REACTION. 33 

energy is returned to the point of origin. It requires the 
same energy to check the pendulum and take up its 
motion at this central point. That amount of foice 
applied at any other point will produce a different result. 
If force is interposed at the extremity of the arc of 
vibration it can never neutralize the motion except under 
conditions of constant tension. The pendulum may be 
held at the limit of its swing by application of the same 
amount of energy that produced the motion, but when 
this force is withdrawn the pendulum carries back 
through the point of origin the energy undiminished. 
Apply force at any intermediate point of the arc, and 
you can increase or diminish the amplitude of the oscil- 
lations, but rest cannot be produced and the energy 
neutralized or withdrawn. Only at the point of origin 
may the energy be neutralized. At no other place can 
rest be permanent. Something will remain to be done. 
All causes are suspended in their effects until they return 
to their source. 

What has been said of the oscillations of a pendulum 
would apply equally to the vibrations of a musical chord, 
or of an elastic plate. Another form in which the waves 
of action and reaction may be studied would be a 
sphere of liquid surface, as if the earth were evenly 
covered with water. In such a case, let an impulse be 
given at one pole to produce a wave. The wave would 
flow out towards the opposite pole, pass the equator at 
a uniform elevation, culminate at the negative pole, and 
there would be reversed and thrown back to the point 
of origin, only to have the oscillation repeated until the 
friction of the material and the interference of the sec- 
ondary waves absorbed the original energy. Even when 
absorbed the energy would be latent and bear a causal 
relation to the original impulse. 

We see, therefore, how it is that mathematical and 
geometrical symbols are the only illustrations we have 
of our profoundest principles and laws. In them polarity 
and causality are exemplified continually. Constant and 



34 PSYCHOLOGY^ NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

invariable, they form the frame work of reality. On this 
skeleton is hung the flesh that makes living man. Only 
by understanding them can one fathom matter and mind. 

3. Action and Eeaction as a Psychological Law. 

If mind and matter are opposite poles of the same 
thing, then we can observe the law of action and reaction 
at work in mental processes as well as in the physical 
world, although it will appear in reverse aspect. That 
which appears as cause at the physical pole will be 
effect at the mental, and that which is effect in the physi- 
cal world will appear as will or cause in its internal 
aspect. If one aspect is positive the other is negative. 
If one pole appears as motion at the other pole will be 
rest. All motion is determined by positive and negative 
elements of force. The tendency is either centrifugal or 
centripetal. Action and reaction are always equal. 

From the foregoing it follows that rhythm, psychologi- 
cally speaking, may be reckoned mathematically. A high 
tide implies a low, and a medium activity implies a 
medium inactivity, or reaction. This law was so well 
understood by contemplative races, that before the time 
of Confucius the ancient Chinese ^^Book of Changes'' 
was written to exemplify it, and that philosopher under- 
stood its importance and enlarged upon the theme. By 
the law of rhythm, the future was forecast. Eeactions 
in the seasons, in diseases, and in all psychological ex- 
periences were estimated by the intensity of the action. 

Although founded upon the simplest and most easily 
demonstrated of laws, this famous book became, to the 
ignorant, an occult scroll, teeming with unreasoned 
prophecy and forcing the future to lift its veil. At first 
incredulous and without capacity to understand, by the 
same law! of rhythm they passed to the opposite pole of 
superstition and credulity. 

It is startling to observe in every day life how little 
men take stock of their reactions. They gloat upon 
deeds, and strenuous activities, forgetting the ebb tide 



ACTION AND REACTION. 35 

while on the waves of the high. They plan for great 
things; ignoring practically the fact that the negative 
shadow accompanies the positive light, and not knowing 
that they will fall asleep beneath the eaves of their un- 
finished structure, some to be killed by its fall upon 
their heads. Man should change all this and coolly cal- 
culate profit and loss, or the action and reaction accom- 
panying every enterprise in which he engages. His out- 
put of energy means its corresponding return and he 
should estimate all things on this basis. Rhythm affects 
environment outside of himself as well as himself. The 
complexity of life is produced by the interference of dif- 
ferent rythms at the various stages of high and low tide. 
These tremendously complicated interactions must be cal- 
culated by the seeker after poise. Only those who under- 
stand the law can balance action with reaction and deter- 
mine the periodic return of a given wave. 

Without a due consideration of rhythm, psychology is 
a body without its head. That which makes calculation 
possible is left out. It can never determine the ^^psycho- 
logical moment,^' and therefore will not grasp it. Rhythm 
is the key to a balanced psychology, although most diffi- 
cult of application. At the acute point of specialized 
action, the slightest deviation misses the mark. From the 
base of a broad generalization, the results are apparent 
and sure. 

4. Accumulated Causes and Suspended Results. 

Action and reaction always being equal, it follows that, 
knowing a cause and the conditions under which it acts, 
we can compute the result; perceiving a result, we can 
find out the cause. There are no phenomena without 
causes. There are no causes that do not produce effects. 

The relation between cause and effect, as we under- 
stand it, is not the same as the rhythms of action and 
reaction. Action and reaction, psychologically defined, 
are the changes within the Unit of Force by reason of 
some particular activity. Cause and effect are terms bet- 



36 PSYCHOLOGY^ NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

ter applied to designate co-ordinated changes in two or 
more Units arising out of the same contact and inter- 
dealing. Causality, in this sense, always bears an exte- 
rior aspect, action and reaction an interior. Rhythm, 
therefore, applies only to action and reaction. Cause and 
effect, being strictly co-ordinated, are timeless. 

This being the case, the accumulated causes and sus- 
pended results of which we speak are within the Unit. 
There is no storing up of forces elsewhere. There can 
be no suspension of results in another place. The forces 
which surround us with invisible tendencies arise within. 
Those things which affect us, or can affect us, are a 
part of us. Our actions in the complicated environment 
which surrounds us create a larger self in which all trans- 
actions form and outline themselves until the returning 
wave brings back the energy to the Unit of Force and 
the rhythm is completed and closed. 

The distinctions here referred to are not inconsistent 
with the common sense view of the external world. Al- 
though the action and reaction is within the -Unit, the 
same activity may appear as cause and effect between 
other Units. This is the exterior view which ignores the 
suspended interior reaction. Being thus limited, it fails 
to account for half the problems of life. When action and 
reaction are fully understood, each one will know that all 
energy given forth returns to the giver, whenever a pas- 
sive state makes it possible, rendering exact account of 
all it has wrought. 

5. Abnormal Aspects of Action and Reaction. 

The law of action and reaction being of universal ap- 
plication, it foUov/s that the ordinary actions of men, pro- 
duced by only moderately energetic efforts, are accom- 
panied by only moderate reactions and results. The effect 
in the external world is not marked. The interior reac- 
tion is not startling. There are two ways, however, by 
which extraordinary and abnormal results may be brought 
about. One is by the process of insulation of the energy 



ACTION AND REACTION. 37 

tending in a given direction, until it accumulates pressure 
to break all barriers and escape as a full grown cause. 
The other method is that in which the Unit of Force de- 
votes all its energy to the production of an immediate 
result, regardless of propriety or consequences. At the 
time of observing the action, it may be hard to determine 
which process was involved. The strength and impulsive- 
ness of the action may appear abnormal although no law 
has been violated or contravened. 

The ability to accumulate energy, here referred to, is 
of highest importance. By means of it almost any object 
comes within reach of one who desires it sufficiently. If 
not possessed of strength to gain his purpose at once, it 
is only necessary that he forego the expenditure of energy 
in the pursuit of other objects until enough is accumu- 
lated to gain this paramount desire. If confined, the 
pressure will rise until it becomes irresistible. When 
an object is not desired with an intensity that ignores all 
else, little difference does it make what magnitude of 
events may be necessary to bring to others their joys and 
sorrows. 

In all action and reaction is involved a time feature 
which is closely connected with the insulation that makes 
accumulation of energy possible. Insulation, under the 
control of the Unit, is one factor. The time element, re- 
sulting from the sequence of events occasioned by the 
nature of the rhythm, is the other. The quantity of 
energy and the mass involved in the rhythm must always 
be considered. Out of those elements arises on the mental 
side what corresponds to voltage or pressure on the phy- 
sical. Insulation is also expressed in terms of polarity, 
being the opposite of contact and interdealing. Contact 
and interdealing are meaningless except as implying an 
isolation alternately enforced and suspended. Here the 
principles of motion and rest commingle. Viewed static- 
ally, the idea is that of the Many and the One. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Emotion. 

1. Emotion accompanies Energy. 

We have seen in the preceding chapters how conscious- 
ness depends upon the motion of matter and how motion 
in matter is caused by desire or will. Desire, or its 
equivalent in the various orders of nature, is a constantly 
working cause producing motion in matter and the ap- 
propriate attendant consciousness. This motion and inter- 
dealing being between Units of Force the law of action 
and reaction intervenes and becomes a fixed form and 
characteristic of the motion, and therefore a law apply- 
ing to both its mental and physical aspects. We have 
seen further that energy is directed by desire, being its 
constant servant. Bearing this in mind, we will now treat 
of emotion and the feelings that accompany energy as 
given forth and directed by desire. 

Like all forces, the energy inherent in the unit follows 
the laws of conservation of energy and transformation of 
energy. The forces of the units are the forces of nature 
and therefore consistent with natural laws. All that we 
can learn of the pressure and tension of gases, of hy- 
draulic power, of the laws governing electrical and chemi- 
cal energy will be knowledge of the energy of the Units 
and a commentary on its mode of operation. All their 
manifestations will have a definite but reverse aspect at 
the pole of mind. There they appear as passion, moods, 
emotion and feeling, in countless forms. 

Inasmuch as emotion or feeling accompanies all dis- 
play of energy, we conclude that it is a fixed character- 
istic of the energy, or rather the energy itself as seen 
from the mental side. Like all things in a world of 
polarity, energy exhibits both an internal and external 
aspect. The external aspect is the motion in matter 
which we refer to resident forces. The internal aspect 

38 



EMOTION. 39 

is the emotion which follows the course of energy under 
the guidance of desire. Desire directs the energy. Feel- 
ings of pleasure and pain accompany its workings and 
its course. 

2. The Quality of the Emotion Depends upon the 
Form of Energy Displayed. 

Energy in its simplest form being a quantity propor- 
tional to the product of the mass of a body multiplied by 
the square of the velocity, it follows that with every 
variation in mass or velocity there will be a variation in 
the attendant emotion. The emotions that ordinarily 
reach consciousness, however, arise in a complex way. 
They are the product of energy in all forms of mani- 
festation. In reverse expression, we find elements the 
equivalent of the volume and pressure of a head of water 
in hydraulics, of voltage and amperage in electrical 
science, and of tension and resistance in elastic bodies and 
solids. All physical elements with which we are familiar 
have appropriate expression, and the finer forces of nature 
intrude their equally subtle mental aspects. Out of this 
variety arise all emotions. Although they defy analysis 
until the physical counterpart is analyzed, neither creates 
the other; they support each other. They are opposite 
poles of the same thing. 

Making allowance for the various forms in which 
energy works, the mental equivalent must be exactly as 
complex as the physical. A body quivering with emotion 
expresses at the mental pole the characteristics of the 
energy as it encounters varying conditions of resistance 
and conductivity. Driven by desire, energy is still amen- 
able to law. It can work and spend itself only on the 
media at hand. Its quality must vary with each change 
in those media. Having gone forth as action, the energy 
will return as reaction. In reversing its course, the 
mental aspect also will change. 

In a frenzy of emotion extremes are forced to a meet- 
ing point. This is why the acme of emotion along any 



40 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

line resolves itself into a reaction of satiety or dissolu- 
tion. 

Emotions such as anger or love, carried to the point 
of frenzy or rhapsody, suddenly find their limits and re- 
turn upon themselves. The intensity of the action forces 
reaction. In this way the emotion may change almost 
instantly from courage to fear, from elation to melan- 
choly. To be emotional is to move forth with the energy 
at one's command. It is to accelerate speed until the 
climax is reached and reaction and disgust, or death and 
extinguishment of that phase of one 's experiences results. 

The process is reversely similar to that which makes 
a seed germinate when planted in the warm, moist earth. 
Under seasonal changes, the form which conditions the 
life of the plant has reached its limit of contraction and 
condensation. It has stored in the seed potential energy 
to guide the creation of a new plant, but life cannot go 
further in that same direction. At the extreme of cold 
and death dissolution becomes the gateway to new life — 
embraces life. Polarity is asserted by bounding back to 
the other extreme of youth and intense life. In the 
rhythms of animal and plant life this meeting of extremes 
is clearly seen. As in ancient days, God moves upon the 
waters. The energy without quickens the energy within ; 
the motion accelerates until the extreme is reached and 
death changes into life. 

In art, literature, or physically in animal life, nothing 
creative is ever done save through emotion and this mov- 
ing out toward death. Dissolution is the matrix in which 
the egg of genius is hatched. Thus it is that the man 
who would create a masterpiece must find some material 
sufficiently plastic and negative in which to work. He 
must dissolve, break up and destroy something in order 
to bring forth a new form. No great work was ever 
accomplished except through an emotion so overwhelm- 
ing that it killed and destroyed. All things utilized 
in a masterpiece are first reduced to elemental essence, 



EMOTION. 41 

plastic and ready for reformation. Without this process 
the new, the original cannot appear. 

If emotion enters into the creation of all masterpieces, 
it is also true that, once created, a work of art tends to 
awaken in others the same emotion. In what manner this 
is done we cannot explain here, although a few points need 
be borne in mind. One is that art expresses universal 
principles in concrete exemplifications. For this reason 
the attendant emotions are never discordant as long as 
the view is limited to the dominant idea expressed in the 
work of art. Another feature is that emotional participa- 
tion in an observer is produced by an association and 
flow of ideas which inevitably enlarge his capacity for 
emotion. Although complete in itself, a work of art leads 
the mind on to the larger principles and laws back of the 
one expressed. As in geometry, all regular figures are 
but parts of more inclusive forms. The extended frame- 
work of musical composition is also an exemplication of 
this. 

3. The Extremes of Emotion. 

Between the extremes of emotion and the golden mean 
where polarity is forgotten in equilibrium are all degrees 
of feeling, graded in a sliding scale. This could not be 
otherwise, for some degree of emotion, or outmoving of 
energy, is essential to consciousness. Pure intellect is 
supposed to be motionless, calm, unmoved and cold; but 
even if such a condition can exist in a sentient being, we 
would still say that upon arriving at it all sense connec- 
tion between subject and object had been lost. Emotion 
is a necessary element in all sensation, an ingredient of all 
polarized products. Its fires are maintained in every 
living, conscious individual. Its glow accompanies the 
course of all forces moving to and fro. Even the stable 
forms with which intellect deals seem products of a 
polarity so constant and of motion so infinitely rapid that 
activity becomes indistinguishable from rest. 

Considering the genesis of emotion we have given, the 



42 PSYCHOLOGY^ NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

question arises as to how much emotion one should permit 
himself in the affairs of life. Should the dragon run ram- 
pant, tearing on continually toward an extreme of exper- 
ience and death, or only when the idea and event 
is great enough to produce a masterpiece? Here 
intellect takes the bench and acts as judge. Otherwise 
an emotional individual is liable to become a 
breeder of monstrous progeny. Murder, wrath and lust 
in hideous forms are his children, while he himself, caught 
in a slough of despondency at time of reaction, is helpless 
and impotent. On the contrary, one with a fixed idea 
leading to the creation of the wonderful, the miraculous, 
proceeds to the limit of his power, even though reaction 
leads him to the negative pole of his being and death 
and decay results. He descends into hell (which here is 
defined as the satiety after intense emotion) in order 
that he may create a wonder and fascinate the world. 
But he who lets loose upon earth his emotional energy 
hap-hazard, defiantly caring nothing for results, is a ter- 
ror both to himself and to humanity. He has no fixity of 
purpose, no firm resolve, no sense of sacrifice. Angry, he 
taunts and kills. Hungry, he steals and defrauds. Vile, 
he degrades and debauches. The difference between him 
and the true creator is not in the intensity of their passion, 
for in that they are the same, but in the firmness and fixed- 
ness of their ideas. One seeks chaos only; the other, 
through the gateway of chaos, finds cosmos. 

The mild emotions of mankind are not productive of 
masterpieces ; yet emotion is only a matter of degree. The 
processes of dissolution and rebirth perpetually attend it. 
Whether stormy or mild, whether acting in gentle or vol- 
canic ways, its genesis is the same. It is a motion forth 
projectilely; a taking of object by subject through sensa- 
tion. This may be done with the hands, the eyes, the ears, 
the nose or the mouth. The active storms the passive, 
captures, dissolves and makes of it a new thing. Emotion 
is the opposite of stagnation, quiescence and inertia, yet 



EMOTION. 43 

by the paradox of polarity, in reaction it returns to that 
.very pole. 

4. Active and Passive States of Emotion. 

Inasmuch as reaction follows action and returns all 
energy to its source, it is manifest that emotion, being the 
mental equivalent of energy, will assume a different as- 
pect as the direction of the energy is changed. Rrom this 
change of course result two well defined states of activ- 
ity and passivity. Outgoing energy produces positive or 
active emotions, returning energy the negative or passive. 
The intensity of these two classes of emotions may be 
equal, or graduated in any way so that a balance is finally 
struck. Although both the outgoing and returning cur- 
rents are under the domination of will, and may be either 
accelerated or retarded, the aggregate amount of energy 
involved in the outflow and inflow of the tide is the 
same. In the end nothing is dissipated or lost. An en- 
hanced intensity of experience only shortens the time over 
which it may extend. Slowly accumulated energy may 
force its way violently whenever the resisting power of 
the barriers is overmatched. The distinction between the 
two classes is of great importance. By understanding 
the outgoing wave one can regulate it. By knowing the 
inevitableness of its return one can endure what it brings. 
What is given forth slowly may be taken up rapidly. 
What has gone forth violently and impulsively, may be 
retaken and neutralized by patient care. By understand- 
ing this law of polarity, even sorrow is seen to support 
as its opposite, joy. 

5. Abnormal Aspects of Emotion. 

The conditions which surround the genesis and course 
of energy indicate with clearness what abnormal phases 
it may assume. Emotional excess of any kind may ap- 
pear abnormal. A failure to show emotion at other times 
is equally abnormal. If bodily conditions are not prop- 
erly developed for the storage and transmission of phys- 



44 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

ical energy, irregular nervous and emotional reactions 
will result. This is already being recognized and studied 
more and more. Without normal inhibition of physical 
reflexes, emotional actions and reactions become exag- 
gerated and interfere with the habits of ordinary life. 
Emotion without intellect is insanity. 

In early stages of physical development, natural inertia 
prevents an undue display of emotional reactions beyond 
such as are intimately connected with the life and pre- 
servation of the species. As the physical body becomes 
a more facile conductor of energy, the intellect must step 
in to restore balance and order, or the fullness and excess 
of emotion tends to destroy the organized life which at 
first it tended to preserve. 

One form of emotional response which is noticeable is 
mimicry and imitation. Most hysterical patients are at 
times excellent imitators. If an idea strikes them or they 
wish to describe something, the matter is produced with 
exaggerated pantomine. They seem to realize in sym- 
pathetic bodily form ideas which normal persons respond 
to sluggishly, if at all. 

Emotion in some form accompanies all action and is 
the goal of desire, yet it is hardly an end in itself. He 
who would make it such is nearing the extinguishment 
of that particular desire. 



CHAPTER V. 

Pleasure and Pain. 

1. Pleasure and Pain are Qualities attaching to all 
Emotions. 

Pleasure and Pain are not things in themselves, but 
qualities which attach to something else. They are oppo- 
site qualities, and therefore must attach to the opposite 
poles of some process or thing. They appear in all emo- 
tion and therefore show that emotions are polarized prod- 
ucts. Bearing in mind the fact that emotion accompanies 
all energy, let us analyze some of the more important 
processes of life and see what relation pleasure and pain 
bear to them. 

Consciousness and unconsciousness are opposite states, 
being the poles of the most important rhythm of life. It 
is the same opposition as is found in the conceptions of 
life and death, sleeping and waking, light and dark, with 
the exception that it is more fundamental and absolute. 
In spite of this opposition, we still say that one pole im- 
plies the other. Like all polarized conceptions, you can- 
not define one element except on the background of the 
other. You cannot understand one until you understand 
the other. Each depends upon and supports the other. 
They are opposite poles of the same thing. 

If, then, sleeping and waking, life and death, motion 
and rest are polarized aspects of one process, what rela- 
tion do they bear to pleasure and pain? Does pleasure 
shine as a light eternal upon one pole and pain forever 
darken the other ? Or is there some diurnal revolution and 
oscillation of the mathematical axis that at first gives to 
one pole the favored aspect and then bestows it upon the 
other ? Which is the fixed element and what laws govern 
the adjustment of pleasure and pain to it? 

Taking the matter as we find it, we conclude that pleas- 
use or pain is a quality which may attach to either pole. 
Polarity is a balanced, dynamic relation. It is established 

45 



46 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

in motion and is maintained by self-adjustment. Its attri- 
butes are relative. In maintaining poise, any quality or 
aspect may disappear from one pole to reappear or be ex- 
hibited at the other. If the quality of pleasure or pain 
may attach to either pole, it is evident that it has some- 
thing to do with balance or adjustment of the load. Polar- 
ized products are balanced products, yet at the same time 
complete balance results in quiescence and unconscious- 
ness. In order that there may exist any consciousness or 
emotion there must take place an interchange of force 
between the poles. This interchange of force makes the 
poles conscious of each other, or, speaking more strictly, 
through consciousness it unifies the two poles and shows 
them to be opposite aspects of one thing. We conclude, 
therefore, that pleasure and pain depend upon the direc- 
tion in which the energy is flowing with reference to the 
pole with which the consciousness at the time is identified. 

2. Pleasure and Pain balance each other. 

Far ahead in the perspective of the road of pleasure 
stalks the phantom of pain, ever in view. By pleasure 
we mean simply the sensation or feeling of being pleased. 
It is something we desire to continue. It is a sensational 
consciousness of gratifying desire. There is no element 
of completion in it. It is active, prospective and ever 
heading toward climax. Being in opposition to pain, it 
never loses sight of its inseparable mate. Possibly un- 
clouded pleasure may be experienced by the extremely 
ignorant and non-self-conscious beings, who know nothing 
of reasoning and but little of experience, or by the more 
developed when under the sway of a new desire. A child 
will take a dancing delight in the flame of a fire until he 
gets too near to it and experiences the pain of a burn. 
Ever after, while he may still be charmed by the warmth 
and glow of the flame, his memory instructs him to be 
careful, and he anxiously bears the former experience 
in mind. Mingled with his delight is the old pain. We 
find no condition of pleasure, either in anticipation or 



PLEASURE AND PAIN. 47 

realization, but has the other pole of pain dimly visible, 
both as a possibility and a probability, and that not far 
away. It could not be otherwise, seeing that pleasure con- 
sists in using the materials and forces within our environ- 
ment in a reasonable manner. Departure of any kind 
from the limitations imposed at once injects into the ex- 
perience the element of friction and pain. To restore 
the balance, energy must flow in the opposite direction, 
and that reversal of course of necessity changes the qual- 
ity of the emotion. 

From the foregoing it will be seen that pleasure and 
pain balance each other under the law of conservation of 
energy. Energy produces motion, motion assumes rhyth- 
mical form, and the forces that govern the vibrations 
and oscillations of the particles and masses of matter are 
constantly equalized as the motion progresses. 

All strictly animal sense-pleasures are climaxed quickly 
and followed by reaction and satiety. To push the ex- 
perience further in the same line would be followed by 
acute pain. As has been said, what is more distasteful 
than to eat when one is not hungry or to drink when one 
is not thirsty? Now the intellect anticipates all these 
things and sees the result in advance. No well developed 
self-conscious being indulges in wining and dining, or 
bestiality and voluptiousness, contributing nerve pleasure 
more or less ecstatic, without in the very act being over- 
shadowed by the coming reaction and dreaded impotence 
and satiety. Even in the finer forms of sense-experience 
of the poet, artist or sculptor, beside his rapture and 
dream of ecstasy glides a nightmare figure ready later to 
spread its pall over the genius-creator and envelop him 
with sad disgust of his incomplete work and unfulfilled 
ideas. In the vulgar delights of the miser who clutches 
and hides moneys and jewels or accumulates property to 
gratify the mere sense of possession, there is the haunting 
image of the thief seeking his hiding place, or of the en- 
vious and hungry desiring his fortune. Anxiety tinctures 
all his pleasure. His deliberate acquisitiveness and furtive 



48 PSYCHOLOGY^ NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

secretiveness, in the pain they produce, demonstrate the 
antithesis. Let a man love deeply a person or thing and 
he at once begins to worry about it. The deeper his at- 
tachment, the more gnawing is his anxiety. The more 
exquisite the pleasure of having and holding, the more 
exquisite is the pain at the prospect of losing. Houses, 
lands, monies, family, friends, clients, reputation, social 
status, personal attainments, physical and mental facul- 
ties, even ideals; anything in short that contributes to 
personal stature comes under this category. 

Let an individual struggle to amass a fortune because 
the ease of wealth is bound to please. He reaches his 
goal and finds himself, perhaps, alone and companionless. 
He immediately searches for friendships, love and a home. 
This goal again reached, and himself pleased with con- 
genial companionship, he discovers that in attaining the 
same his energy has been sapped. Nothing daunted, he 
starts out in pursuit of health, and finding it, discovers 
also that to keep the nice balance where he is poising with 
wealth, friends and health at hand, he mu^t forever have 
his eye on his bank account, his heart attuned to his 
friends and a finger on his own pulse. Balancing thus, 
with old age not far off, disguised as pain, his pleasure 
is an anxious one, tremendously doubtful and alloyed. 

As we before stated, no condition in life can be thought 
of where pleasure is pure and not tinctured with its other 
pole of pain, save that of irresponsible beings like infants 
and perhaps some animals. They too have their pain, 
although they may not bear it much in mind. Now what 
is this pain which mates pleasure so persistently? If 
pleasure is that which pleases a conscious individual, be- 
ing a state which he desires to continue, pain is 
its opposite and must be that which he desires to cease. 
Pleasure is a co-ordinating, coherent, harmonious enjoy- 
ment of sensation and the attendant emotions in their 
high and low forms. Pain is an incoherent, chaotic, dis- 
rupting experience, the reverse of cosmic joy. 



PLEASURE AND PAIN. 49 

In all pleasure it is evident that, as the delight becomes 
intensified and accelerated when nearing its climax, it 
must at some point lose its co-ordination and pass from 
the unified cosmic condition to chaos. A picnic becomes a 
bacchanal, a holy feast an orgy. Kiiowing this, man must 
either let rhythm take its course, forcing him on to the 
climax of pleasure to dash him later head downward into 
the burning chaos of pain and the disgusting quagmire of 
satiety, or he must cut short his pleasures before comple- 
tion, substituting, thereby, another form of pain for that 
to which the climax of the rhythm would lead him. If he 
has an appetite for food, he may experience pleasure in it 
and stop short before he has gorged himself. The uncom- 
pleted desire is a different pain from that of revulsion of 
feeling and satiety, but he cannot divorce pleasure from 
pain, nor pain from pleasure. They are opposite poles 
of the same thing and exactly balance. 

3. Polarity and Cross-Polarity. 

We stated in the preceding paragraph that pleasure 
uses the materials and forces within our environment in a 
reasonable manner and that a departure of any kind from 
the limitations imposed injects into the experience the 
elements of friction and pain. We also call attention to 
the fact that harmonious action repeated over and over 
results in a constantly diminishing consciousness. The 
being that maintains full consciousness forever encounters 
discordant elements and friction. To live, he must organ- 
ize and conquer chaos. To meet it supinely is to be swal- 
lowed up in its darkness. To rest in the harmony pro- 
duced by the efforts of others is to enter the lethal river 
of forgetfulness and sleep. 

From the foregoing we see that discord produces pain 
and harmony pleasure. We have re-defined the question 
but encounter the same polarity, for there is no harmony 
without discord, nor discord without harmony. Each 
defines and supports the other. They are opposite poles 
of the same thing. Finding polarity in all our concepts, 



50 PSYCHOLOGY^ NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

we look farther to discover whether or not there is cross- 
polarity, or polarity of higher power or degree. It at 
once becomes evident that this is the case. Back of every 
polarized product stands the unifying process that created 
it. The poles stand apart only as we identify ourselves 
with one and face the other. Rising to a point of view 
that embraces both poles, a higher polarity is encountered. 
It is cross-polarity and at right angles to the space occu- 
pied by the first product. As in space of three dimensions 
the unity pervading space of two dimensions is seen, so 
by comprehending a polarized concept of higher power, 
the lower concept and creation depending upon it is im- 
mediately comprehended and seen. Through this door lies 
the escape from both pleasure and pain. Under the illu- 
mination afforded, it is seen that pleasure for one creature 
is always pain for another, but by operation of the great 
law, action equals reaction and the tide must reverse it- 
self. In the long run neither will remain indebted to the 
other. Desire is an eternal search for and finding of 
pleasure. Anything desired is pleasurable. The grati- 
fying of desire is pleasurable. But a desire gratified is 
a desire annihilated. The outgoing energy has reached its 
limit; its returning current must display the opposite 
mathematical sign. But for him who stands above there 
is neither pleasure nor pain. It is only life. He would 
not reduce it to nothingness by taking from it the pleasure 
and the pain. 

4. The Physical Basis of Pleasure and Pain. 

Recent biological investigations establish the fact that 
consciousness in the animal organism tends to reside in 
the organ last formed or evolved. According to this con- 
ception, the organ which is in the most unstable condition 
and most called upon to adapt itself to changing environ- 
ment is the chief seat of consciousness. If, from the view- 
point of the phjT^sical body, consciousness resides in the 
brain, it must not be forgotten that it is only the func- 
tions the brain is called upon to perform that make it 



PLEASURE AND PAIN. 51 

the seat of consciousness. When there was no brain or 
when the brain was not developed to its present import- 
ance, there were other organs that shared the honor of 
holding the attention of the Unit of Force and of form- 
ing the field of its consciousness. 

It is reasonable to conclude that every organ as formed 
monopolized much of the consciousness of the individual 
and that only after the organ had reached a comparatively 
stable state of conformity to environment did conscious- 
ness leave it to operate automatically. This reduction of 
conscious processes to automatic processes is constantly 
going on. It is not confined to any organ or to any par- 
ticular portion of the body. Processes which at first 
require attention and effort, as soon as the habit is set, 
become automatic. Full consciousness no longer lingers 
there. The law of economy of energy and parsimony of 
effort prevails. Habit and automatic action replace when- 
ever possible voluntary processes, leaving consciousness 
free to undertake other tasks. 

If it be true that consciousness has shed its light at one 
time or another on every portion of the evolving organ- 
ism, it is also true that the organ or evolved structure 
when left to function automatically has not been wholly 
expelled from the field of consciousness of the Unit. It 
still stands within its field of force and may come into 
consciousness of its own motion or by voluntary effort of 
the Unit. Ordinary consciousness can pick up the local 
consciousness of almost any portion of the body and a 
trained and concentrated consciousness seems able to 
penetrate any realm. Like all natural processes the ex- 
tent to which this is possible depends upon the amount of 
energy at command and the knowledge and skill with 
which it is directed. 

Considering, then, that consciousness has resided at one 
time or another in every portion of the body, and that 
it may now voluntarily return to any portion towards 
which it is properly directed, also that it may be attracted 
to any tissue that experiences pleasure or pain of suffi- 



52 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

cient intensity, we have a reasonable physical basis for 
understanding pleasure and pain. 

The law that comes out of this state of facts is this: 
Consciousness at the present stage of evolution is pressing 
upward to reach a physical height from which it can 
gather richer experiences and dominate larger processes. 
In doing this, it gradually reduces to subordinate, auto- 
matic action all organic processes from which it can safely 
withdraw the attention. Consciousness, however, is nig- 
gardly of effort and avoids unnecessary expenditure of 
energy. It is a loss for it to retread the ground over 
which it has already passed. The inertia and shock of 
giving up a matter already in consciousness is painful. 
The withdrawal and transfer of attention to a disturbed 
portion of the body takes energy and is an interference 
with the higher tasks mapped out for consciousness. Phy- 
sical pain, as does all pain, arises from the disturbance 
of harmonic processes and relations. The pain which is 
directly caused by the disturbed local condition is aggra- 
vated by the disturbance that the higher consciousness 
inevitably feels. But the secret of the whole matter is 
the loss of energy devoted to other purposes. All dis- 
turbed processes absorb energy, and energy, the only 
servant of desire, can be ill spared. Physical pain, then, 
we would define as the shock, resistance and loss felt by 
the Unit of Force upon giving up energy to meet the needs 
of a disturbed organ or automatic process in the body 
over which it rules. 

5. Abnormal Aspects of Pleasure and Pain. 

Pleasure generally takes the initiative in the events of 
life, and pain follows the climax. Sometimes this order 
is reversed. With some, pleasure and pain are so fully 
together in consciousness that they can hardly call their 
higher experiences either pleasure or pain. One of the 
marks of genius is this peculiar melancholy. The genius, 
in fullness of consciousness, sees with awful distinctness 
the shadow embracing his pleasure, even to its death. 



PLEASURE AND PAIN. 53 

Ordinary men are not so clear sighted. But the genius is 
not ordinary; therefore he is melancholy in his raptures 
and sombre in his ecstacies. 

Pleasure and pain, in one sense, are the product of a 
struggle between chaos and cosmos. The tendency to- 
wards dissolution and an unorganized condition is at 
times just as strong as the tendency towards an evolved 
and cosmic condition. Either condition too long indulged 
produces an effort to restore the equilibrium. Inertia 
characterizes both aspects. A body in motion manifests 
its inertia as well as one at rest. If, by intense or too 
long indulged experiences a great departure from equilib- 
rium has been made, the effort towards readjustment in- 
volves a mighty struggle, setting up in consciousness a 
very hell of abnormal experience which is termed pain. 
As bitter as pain seems in the bearing, it has a sweetness 
at its heart. Like pleasure, it is ever conscious of its 
antithesis or other pole and strives continually for bal- 
ance and equilibrium between the two. The sufferer is 
but taking good and wholesome medicine if he but under- 
stands the rhythm in the experiences of his outraged 
senses. In the cradle of experience man rocks back and 
forth between the poles of his being, between pleasure 
and pain. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Imagery. 

1. Imagery is Consciousness of Form and Motion. 

By imagery we mean consciousness of form and motion. 
Inasmuch as Units of Force co-exist, the perception or 
recognition of this co-existence gives form ; and inasmuch 
as the relations between them change, the perception of 
this change appears as motion and as qualitative and 
quantitative differences. Imagery, then, begins as simple 
sensation, showing time and space elements, and persists 
with modifications through percept, concept and abstract 
thinking until it is dissolved in a direct intuition of the 
ultimate form of existence. By this dissolution, how- 
ever, it is immediately thrown back upon concrete exem- 
plification and particular sensations and images. 

From this we see that imagery is but the power of the 
Unit to realize its relations in time and space, a necessary 
product of polarity and rhythm. Being included in con- 
sciousness, and a part of consciousness, imagery has the 
same expansions and contractions as consciousness. Images 
come and go and their apparent size and distinctness vary. 
The qualities that characterize them do not remain con- 
stant or fixed. This, as we have said before, is a result of 
the change in relation between Units of. Force. 

Imagery, as we here use the term, is the concrete con- 
tent of consciousness. It includes all sensation, that is to 
say, all that arises in consciousness under the form of 
space and time. It applies equally well to the product 
of any of the senses. By our hypothesis, it applies also 
to the product of any senses hitherto possessed or that 
shall hereafter be evolved. It is existence sensed and 
perceived, our only means of knowing concrete reality. 
It is the form assumed in knowledge of the contact and 
interdealing of Units of Force, the essence and ultimate 
nature of things in themselves expressed in specialization. 
This being the case, it is meaningless to assign higher 

54 



IMAGERY. 55 

rank or reality to one sensation or image than to another. 
It makes no difference whether they arise within or with- 
out, voluntarily or involuntarily, as apparent facts or as 
conscious fancies. Imagery, wherever it appears, is a 
form that existence has assumed, does assume and will 
assume, and as such is a recorded fact forever. 

This necessary conclusion regarding the nature of 
imagery is in no way inconsistent with the distinctions 
we draw between practical, every-day facts and imagina- 
tion and illusions. These distinctions, so important in 
themselves, depend upon the organs through which we 
receive sensations and through which we can affect 
and be affected by the outer world. Consciousness, 
therefore, when confined to physical organs, assigns to all 
imagery a value and rank in accordance with its ability 
to stimulate and answer to the physical senses. The limi- 
tations are in the organs themselves and are gradually 
removed as the organs evolve greater capacity, or as new 
organs answer to a special environment. 

The power to conjure mental images is indispensible 
to consciousness. We think through the relativity and 
concatenation of images. No thought is possible without 
a series of symbols. We sometimes speak of a person as 
without imagination, but by our hypothesis all self-con- 
scious individuals must have imagery in a greater or less 
degree. 

Imagery, then, is an attribute of self-conscious mind, 
wherever found. We do not need to go into an argu- 
ment to demonstrate this fact. Any person can prove it 
to himself by attempting to think without images, and to 
convey that thought to another, or even fully to under- 
stand himself. A vague consciousness might be conject- 
ured as possible when one closes his eyes and shuts out 
objectivity at the same time vetoing picture-making 
within. Any alertness, force or coherency, expressed inte- 
riorly or exteriorly, will in spite of himself take form, and 
form is imagery, the father of the idea, the mother of 
the thought. 



56 PSYCHOLOGY^ NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

When the earth was without form and void, it was 
without thought or idea, if such a condition is conceiv- 
able. The capacity to form a shape and individualize an 
idea is inherent in mind. Imagery and idea are the text- 
ure of mind, even memory is but a structure of form and 
shapes attached infallibly to a perspective which implies 
time, space and specialization. A future outlook, also, is 
never divorced from form and image and therefore is 
eternally mated with time, space, perspective and particu- 
lars. It would seem as if nothing is formless save law, 
and law therefore is the unthinkable abstraction, which, 
w|hile it is, is yet by the nature of its shapelessness un- 
knowable, until it expresses itself in form. 

Having discovered, by self evidence, that form and idea 
are necessary to thought, and therefore in all thinking 
creatures, we also conclude there is a difference in the 
power of imagery in the various genera that we know. 
Taking man as capable of the highest expression of lan- 
guage or symbol making, we find that he is at the acme of 
power in that respect. His spoken words inadequately 
express the intensity of his imagination. An impediment 
in speech or timidity, will prevent him from orally ex- 
pressing even as far as possible the rich world of ideas 
within his brain. Sometimes he will strive in writing or 
picture-drawing to tell the tales of mind that his tongue 
refuses to reveal. Sometimes, again, he will not bring 
forth anything at all, only showing by the expression of 
his face the whirlpool of seething thought and imagery 
within his fiery mind. Although there is this abundance 
of imagery within the mind, unexpressed and incapable 
of full expression, there is a strong and ever-present 
tendency to externalize it and give it expression. This is 
the significance of language, its purpose and function be- 
ing a constant mediation between the outer and the inner 
world. Facing both ways, it partakes of the character- 
istics of both. Being an externalization of thought, all 
language depends upon images and symbols. We have 
them in the form of letters, which we put together and 
make into image words. We have them in hieroglyphics 



IMAGERY. 57 

and in all devices which condense an idea into a Unit. 
In concrete form they loom up before our interior eye, 
and in their suggestiveness become a story condensed or 
a narrative close-packed. Whether we use language in 
speaking to ourselves or others, it consists of letters, 
words, images, hieroglyphics or symbols, beaded together 
and compacted to express ideas and establish relations. 
Any being that can think must have the gift of imagery. 

We have here spoken of the imagery of self-conscious 
beings and the relation it bears to thought and language ; 
but there is a larger aspect of the matter, which, under 
our hypothesis, we cannot ignore. We refer to the form 
and imagery that permeates all nature, the struggle be- 
tween the geometrical shapes of crystallization, the 
spheroidal shapes of cell life, and the curved lines of all 
motion. In this sense we know of no chaos that is not 
shaped by form and that does not inevitably establish 
within itself internal relations and imagery. As we said 
in the early part of this book, consciousness is implied in 
the motion of all particles of matter, and for that reason, 
the structure of all chemical elements, the forms of all 
plant and animal life, the shapes assumed by every thing 
and creature, however far they fall short of our standard 
of self-consciousness, are, nevertheless, the imagery of 
some mind, the joy and fulness of some life and conscious- 
ness. 

2. Space and Time Elements in Imagery. 

All imagery is presented to us in a setting of space and 
time, and with varying perspective. It makes no differ- 
ence whether we consider space and time as an inherent 
part of external nature, or whether we consider them as 
forms which the mind imposes on the content of conscious- 
ness. By our hypothesis, mind and matter are opposite 
poles of the same thing, and, therefore, all that appears 
necessary, a priori, in the mind will also appear as a uni- 
form principle or law in the external world. Likewise, 
space and time can be studied equally well from either 
pole. Externally, we reduce all to geometry and mathe- 



58 PSYCHOLOGY^ NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

matics. Internally, we discover the unity which binds to- 
gether both space and time and which appears as an inner 
form or necessity, so that in one sense thinking is both 
dependent upon and independent of space and time. 
Whichever view is taken, it is certain there is no attribute 
of either space or time, but which will be reversed at the 
other pole of being. By this means a new light can be 
thrown upon any perplexing situation into which inquiry 
may lead us. 

Considering imagery as conditioned by space and time, 
in the sense above explained, it is evident that it is merely 
a portion of experience presented to us like any other 
phenomenon in space and time. Even in its most evanes- 
cent and subtle form, it is not distinguishable from every 
day facts, except by such distinctions as we draw between 
one fact and another. It cannot arise uncaused nor does 
it disappear without cause. Its nearness in space and 
time, and its intensity and varying qualities, depend upon 
the energy poured into some mould of form created by 
relations between Units of Force. Wherever energy 
operates, there is cause and effect. Energy is required 
either to produce or perceive imagery, therefore all im- 
agery is the effect of some cause and in turn the cause of 
some effect. 

3. Form and Motion are Antithetical Concepts. 

In the preceding paragraphs we have seen how imagery 
is subject to space, time and causality, and whether we 
treat these concepts as external principles or as inner 
forms of the mind^ the practical result is the same. Im- 
agery is a fact of consciousness, and, although developed 
in all degrees of intensity and. with varying perspective, 
it is never disassociated from external phenomena and is 
subject to the same laws. It is consciousness of form and 
motion, and therefore a primal product of all interdealing 
between Units of Force. 

If imagery is consciousness of form and motion, it seems 
also true that this consciousness of form and motion is the 



IMAGERY. 59 

only content of consciousness. Although necessary ele- 
ments in consciousness, form and motion are nevertheless 
antithetical concepts, being consistently opposed to each 
other as poles of one process or thing. The paradox of 
motion and rest is very old in philosophy and one of the 
most difficult to treat, yet it is at the foundation of all 
our ideas regarding space and time. Connect these con- 
cepts with the idea of substance, and there is drawn in the 
further problem of cause and effect. Treating of psycho- 
logical facts, under our hypothesis, w'e conclude that these 
antithetical concepts are not self-cancelling. They are 
change-concepts in which either element may be substi- 
tuted for the other. If one element is considered as rest, 
the other is motion. If what was conceived of as in motion 
be treated as the element of rest, the other element pre- 
serves the same relations, but appears as motion. Thus 
it is that motion and rest are polarized aspects of one 
process and together produce an evolving, living thing. 

Applying these distinctions to imagery, we see that 
form is but a specialization of space relations concealing 
in itself the element of motion or change. We treat it 
as the stable element in our sense experience, and yet it 
vanishes from our gaze and consciousness, for we have 
unwittingly shifted to the other pole of being and per- 
mitted it to escape as motion. Having this element as its 
other aspect, it must manifest it whenever through energy 
there is set in motion the rhythmic swing of cause and 
effect. 

4. Sensation is the Physical Eecognition of Form and 
Motion. 

The physical recognition of form and motion appears 
as sensation, and, has in it the potentiality of imagery in 
all higher and subtler forms. As sense organs are gradu- 
ally evolved, the character of sensations received from 
the same stimuli varies greatly, or at least there is a 
selecting and ignoring out of the complexly presented 
stimulus which amounts to the same thing. The eye that 



60 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

has no recognition of certain colors today, may in time 
add to its sensations what seems an entirely new exper- 
ience, although proved to be a response to higher vibra- 
tions of the class previously sensed. Even in the lifetime 
of the individual the efficiency of the sense organ may 
vary greatly. 

Along with the fact that our sense organs evolve so as 
to bring into consciousness things previously ignored, 
we also bear in mind that they drop from consciousness 
matters for which they have no further use. This selec- 
tive attention, by our hypothesis, inheres in all matter, 
and, directed from the mental pole of the unit, gives to 
natural processes a form of purposiveness so often thought 
to be explained. As to why this appears in consciousness 
as physical sensation, we say that motion results from 
energy interchanged between Units of Force, and"Bie 
change of relations in the physical body thus affected is, 
at the mental pole, sensation. 

5. Abnormal Aspects of Imagery. 

If a man is a thinker and has ideas, he is bound to 
have images of them whether outwardly manifested or 
not. Confined within his compact skull he will find a 
world of chaos, where the forms and shapes crowd and 
jostle in their struggle for expression. Often the imag- 
ination overpowers the mind that has bred it, and he 
becomes incoherent or insane. In the majority of cases, 
however, imagery finds some way out of the head and 
hits exterior conditions. Ideas take wings and fly from 
star to star. Our imaginations are wanderers straying 
over the universe formed and terrible. Man conceives 
an idea, and this nucleus takes shape and individuality, 
until it exteriorizes itself in a machine, a picture, a 
speech, a poem, a statue, or a song, and becomes visible 
to its parent in matter, yet the visible, material expres- 
sion is never the pure idea which is still so terribly alive 



IMAGERY. 61 

in invisibility that the whole universality of being is 
more or less under its sway. 

Perhaps we should not have said that man — a man — 
can conceive this idea at all. Undoubtedly in some 
subtle way it has always existed vaguely shaped and 
indestructible. But man seems to have the power to 
intensify its expression through his imagination, and to 
all intents and purposes as far as he is concerned, it 
becomes his own creation. All conceivable images are 
latent or possible in the universal mind. Sentient be- 
ings, however, revivify them, making them dynamic and 
stupendous. A highly imaginative race is generally 
great, either for evil or good. The same may be asserted 
of a highly imaginative individual. If his power of 
imagery is great, and his means of expression small, 
through faulty technic, or a physical impediment, his 
overcrowded ideas lack coherence, and the man becomes 
a menace to the world. Such a person is liable to be a 
mischief maker, a crank or a maniac. On the other 
hand, if his imagination has a clear channel for expres- 
sion so that the head and brain are not congested, 
coherence and order result, his ideas going forth winged 
and golden. 

Coherence and incoherence make a clearly defined 
difference between rationality and irrationality. If 
a man has what is called ^'a poor imagination,'' he 
may, nevertheless, through a talent of ready expression 
and a backing of great force, make his few ideas ^Hell" 
with more accurate certainty than can the richer mind 
less dynamic in energy. 

Image-making is a source of both delight and terror, 
a fountain inexhaustible. How it is possible to conjure 
images we do not know. The law of its working, how- 
ever, is quite easy to discover, and one of the objects of 
psychology is to make it plain. Pictures are ^^ called 
up," but the depth of the abyss of apparent nothing- 
ness from which they come it is impossible to sound. 
Nevertheless the mind desires and they appear, sometimes 



62 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

without our so willing. An individual is flooded with them 
much to his dismay and then his ''mind wanders'' — 
people declare. They discern in the imagination some- 
thing dreadful to contemplate. What is a haunted house 
in horror compared with a haunted mind? Ideas intrude 
themselves and active, tumble about recklessly, the 
vicious and angelic in each others' arms, beauty and 
ugliness cheek to cheek, the grotesque and the sublime 
lip to lip. The brain has become a place of obscene de- 
bauchery, where a bacchanal in full swing has put down 
and out all sense of fitness, order and sequence. The 
W'ill of the father of this chaos is unequal to the sub- 
duing of his children. Like Saturn, he is forced to de- 
vour them, and becomes a mental dyspeptic and terror 
to mankind. Vice versa — who is so blessed as he who 
has a sane and powerful imagination? Poor and alone, 
yet he needs no pity, for his world is peopled and beau- 
tiful — indeed, he is richer than the poverty-brained mil- 
lionaire who tries to buy his way to happiness with coin 
alone. AUadin and his wonderful lamp are symbols of 
this man of rich imagination. Into the world of his 
inner life leaps full-armed the Minerva of his desire. 
Down from high Olympus she travels golden-sandaled, 
carrying messages from the mountain of Zeus. Back 
she flies to the King and Lord, bearing in her arms his 
full-formed creations cut in earth and chiseled in stone. 
So to be a great, coherent image maker is to be a God. 

As all conceivable form and forms are in the bosom of 
the universal, and as the word ''conjure" means nothing 
new save as we have forgot, then it makes no difference 
whether the fruit of the imagination is something we 
have seen objectively in matter or something apparently 
new to our consciousness. The result is imagery, never- 
theless; and in its last analysis is not creative, but is 
made to manifest with emphasis, deluding us in our for- 
getfulness into thinking that it is an absolutely new idea. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Memory and Imagination. 

1. Memory and Imagination are Specializations of 
Imagery. 

It is evident that all sensations and mental imagery 
are in one sense a present experience of the individual. 
They are a part of the NOW of consciousness as much 
as anything else that fills it, although we recognize that 
many of the images do not have immediate importance. 
Unconsciously we separate the images of the stream of 
thought into classes. There are those that have to do 
with the immediate contact of external reality, those which 
appertain to a recognized portion of our experiences, 
those which represent and forecast some experience to 
be, and those which we handle in imagination without 
certainty as to whether a more definite use of them is 
to follow. The distinction we are here pointing out is, 
that there is a faculty which divides imagery into these 
kinds. It not only assigns to the image a position in 
the stream of time, but also has to do with the degrees 
of externality and intensity which characterize the 
imagery. As we said before, all imagery has its source 
in contact and inter-dealing between units of force. In 
this chapter, therefore, we shall treat only of the special- 
ized forms of imagery known as memory and imagina- 
tion. 

Memory can never be considered apart from the image- 
making power, because the very nature of memory is 
that of a series of images recalled. The mind is con- 
tinually taking photographs of passing events which it 
files away to be recollected on proper occasions, and 
marshalled to the front to be scanned by interior eyes. 
The continuity of the mind's experiences is its memory 
made manifest through images, and these images which 
constitute the symbols of its past acts, emotions and 

63 



64 PSYCHOLOGY^ NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

thoughts, generally fall together in groups which we 
call the association of ideas. Call up a face from the 
abyss of other years, and around it will gather a habita- 
tion and its occupants. It is almost impossible to get 
a past experience isolated. Near it will cluster other and 
still other experiences related to it until a spiral of 
images will coil upon itself, electric with sensation 
and dynamic with life. Through our pov/er of image- 
making and of retaining the same we revivify old 
emotions, actually forcing the past into the present, 
blotting out for the time being the local environment 
and substituting in its place another seemingly long gone. 

The best understanding of memory can be obtained 
through our power to forget. Memory has been quaintly 
defined as the thing we forget with. This forgetting is a 
full half of memory; or putting it another way, the 
bringing into consciousness and expelling from conscious- 
ness the images of past experiences is the process called 
memory. This process is at times voluntary, and at 
other times involuntary. The images may appear crea- 
tures of our will, and again they seem to possess life 
and to impose themselves on us by their own energy. 
Be this as it may, it is certain that forgetting is an 
essential half of the process. Without it the past would 
stand before us condensed and rigid. The plethora of 
images would be intolerable and meaningless. 

We doubt if man could retain life an hour under the 
pressure of complete consciousness in memory. Through 
forgetfulness, however, he breathes, thinks and grows, 
blotting out in a sense the visions of other days, suffer- 
ing them to return in single file, or in limited numbers to 
nourish the mental life of the moment. 

From the foregoing we see that the images of memory 
are specialized. They have to do with the past. They 
are held in a perspective which gives to us a past. This 
recognition and personal perspective, however, is not the 
only specialization that characterizes them. The fact that 
they return to consciousness differentiates them from 



MEMORY AND IMAGINATION. 65 

Other images. Out of all the past few images are per- 
mitted much return. This return is a purposive process, 
a specialization in itself. The Unit of Force wills and 
desires and undertakes certain purposes. Out of the 
past come only the images that are attracted to these 
by the energy remaining in them and originally con- 
tributed to them by the Unit of Force. Through this 
energy they attach to the Unit as memories. It is im- 
possible to be mindful of that upon which one has not 
expended himself. Only those experiences which have 
absorbed a portion of one's energy can remain and 
cluster around him, seeking at all favorable rhythms of 
mental life to restore to him his own. With this view 
of memory, the element of personal recognition is ex- 
plained. Memories are memory because they hold in 
suspension a portion of the energy contributed to the 
original event. They come and go both as I call and as 
they will because we are bound together by indissoluble 
magnetism. The suspension in memory is but a part of 
that holding both together and apart which constitutes 
creation. As there is nothing created without energy, 
so with memory — its vividness, its intensity, its emotions, 
the recognition that inheres in it, all depend upon this 
virtue that has gone out of the individual. As we have 
seen before, by the law of rhythm all energy returns 
undiminished to its source. Until then, the Grand Cycle 
of experiences to which memories attach cannot be closed. 

2. The Element of Perspective in Memory and Imag- 
ination. 

In the preceding paragraph we have shown how per- 
sonal recognition in memory depends upon the energy 
originally contributed to the remembered event by the 
individual remembering. This energy makes the image 
inevitably his and a part of his past. The same prin- 
ciple applies to the imagery of imagination. Imagination 
is a specialized form of imagery, because the individual 
contributes to it energy. Image making, in all degrees 
of intensity, is a power possessed by the Unit of Force. 



66 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

To make images, however, he must use energy, and the 
fact that he has used energy in the creation of the images 
at once transforms them into a part of his memory and 
subjects them to memory's laws. This relation between 
imagination and memory is seldom noted, but its im- 
portance is apparent. Sensations, perceptions and imag- 
inations, when once born in consciousness, are im- 
mediately converted into memories. They and the 
emotions that accompany them are the content of con- 
sciousness. 

Having come to the conclusion that all energy by the 
law of action and reaction is attached to the individual 
that gives it forth, and that it is this inevitable magnet- 
ism that makes the images created by it a recognizable 
part of one's past, the inquiry remains as to how the 
perspective of the past is maintained in memory. This 
perspective, we conclude, is established in two ways. 
First, by the amount of energy inhering in the image. 
Second, by location in the series of rhythms through 
association of ideas. With reference to the first law, we 
find that time tends to draw from mental images their 
vitality. Every time a remembered image is called up, 
a devitalization takes place, unless for special rea- 
sons the Unit pours into the mould of the image new 
energy. As a consequence, memories of even the most 
vivid events gradually cease to interest and lose im- 
portance. The adjustments necessitated have been 
largely made and the energy of the original experience 
to that extent returned and compensated. If, however, 
some new" crisis in life arises wherein this older event 
becomes important, the magnetism between the old and 
the new becomes apparent. , Similars tend to coalesce. 
Like seeks like, although supported by its opposite. In 
clusters of this kind memories seem best to lodge. 
Magnetic attraction in the physical world, under our 
hypothesis, would be association of ideas at the mental 
pole, and equally valuable as an explanation of the 
phenomena involved. 



MEMORY AND IMAGINATION. 67 

From the foregoing it follows that the perspective of 
memory is not definite and clear like the perspective of 
space. A remembered event may be quickly sapped of 
its vitality and lose position in mental perspective, while 
another may linger longer with comparatively little loss 
of energy. Along with this, must be borne in mind the 
fact that the Unit can impart to the images new vitality, 
and prolong their lease of life. The perspective, there- 
fore, that arises from the amount of energy retained by 
the image is uncertain and deceptive. It is like a room 
in which lights are raised and lowered, causing the walls 
apparently to advance and recede. 

The truer perspective of memory is established by 
rhythm. Under the analysis of memory here given, it 
will be seen that time resolves itself into a series of 
rhythms in which the Unit of Force participates. With- 
out these rhythms, for the Unit there would be no time. 
The time given us by rhythm, however, is all that heart 
could wish. In spite of the untimed complexity of each 
event, there mounts above the moments in which it has 
its climax the mighty rhythms of days, weeks, lunar 
months, seasons, years, equinoctial precessions and cosmic 
cycles, in each of which the Unit of necessity participates 
and spends itself. Without this causal participation, 
history would have no meaning, and the geologic past 
would be without charm. Leaving in its wake a portion 
of itself, the self finds this wonderful framework to sup- 
port its memories, both the actual and potential, to make 
them comprehensible and to give them meaning. 

If rhythm gives perspective to memory, it also affords 
the architectural framework of the future. Prospective 
imagination may anticipate the course of a rhythm, and 
in the eye of the mind behold the images of events to be. 
The prevision and swift moving of the mind in this re- 
gard is also subject to the laws of energy. Again and 
again we see difficulties facing us, but the images are 
too feeble to attract full attention and give us the 
courage to act. As with the past, it is easy to see with 
distorted perspective and obscured vision. The unde- 



68 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

veloped mind holds consciously little of the future in its 
grasp and draws but few lessons from the past. 

3. Variations in Intensity of Memory and Imagina- 
tion. 

In the last paragraph it was suggested that the Unit 
of Force could pour into the mould of a mental image 
new energy or in due course withdraw from the image 
the vitality already possessed. By our hypothesis, this 
would affect the vividness and intensity of the image 
and determine the amount of attraction and repulsion 
between one image and another and between past images 
and current events. This attraction and repulsion is at 
the base of association of ideas and suggests the law 
by which memories enter and depart from the mind. 
The vibrations which result in consciousness are set upon 
a sliding scale. As the image is drawn nearer or retreats 
the rate of vibration is relatively increased or diminished, 
and this affects the vividness and associational qualities 
of the image. 

We here make a distinction between the imagery of 
memory or imagination, upon which the Unit spends 
energy directly, and images that come and go in con- 
sciousness as though they wtere sensations appealing 
directly to some interior sense. These latter images, 
once perceived, pass into the reservoir of memory and 
may also form the content of imaginative creations. In 
their inception, they do not arise out of either memory 
or imagination in the ordinary sense. By our hypothesis, 
however, they are matter of some grade set in motion 
by energy and, therefore, sensations of a subtler form. 

The intensity of memory and imagination are inde- 
pendent of the character or form of the imagery. Sense 
organs are set to respond to vibrations of certain rates, 
but in addition to this the element of intensity enters 
into the sensations. A musical instrument may be struck 
so as to produce the same note, first scarcely audible 
and then so loud as to be painful. The pitch of the 
tone is determined by the vibration rate or limitations 



MEMORY AND IMAGINATION. 69 

in the vibrating part of the instrument, but its intensity 
depends upon the amount of energy transferred to it by 
the percussion producing the musical note. It is the 
same with imagery. All events seem to be contained in a 
spiral roll of the past. They pertain directly to all per- 
sons in proportion to the energy contributed by each to 
produce them. Being facts and events they have a 
settled and indestructible form. Unless supported by 
new energy they become devitalized and contract to 
such fineness as to pass unnoticed. Having a fixed rate 
of vibration imposed upon them by their form, they of 
necessity have their affinities and associational counter- 
parts in the countless tones and overtones of mental 
life. The result of this is that an intense mental note 
struck at any time will awaken countless memories lying 
concealed beneath the threshold of consciousness. Not 
only this, but as the spiral of life coils upon and over 
itself it draws near many past events that had been lying 
too distant to attract attention. The new nearness, how- 
ever, is sufficient to bring them within the magnetic 
field of the mind and they at these favorable moments 
reach consciousness and contribute their part to the 
varied and ever shifting imagery of the mind. 

From the foregoing it would seem that all events re- 
tain their form or shape but vary in what might be 
called importance or size. Once past, they tend to ^^go 
down fine" and drop below the threshold of consciousness. 
It is energy and only energy that can keep them ex- 
panded and hold them as present and important facts 
of the mind. When they depart from consciousness, how- 
ever, they are not dead, but reduced in vitality. As 
they recede in the perspective of time, they become 
smaller. By their distance they escape more and more 
from the field of consciousness dominated by the Unit 
of Force. Let occasion arise, however, either by favor- 
able position in what we must call the spiral of life, or 
by any intense experience and need of the mind which 
sends far and near a cry for sympathy and understand- 
ing, and they may be awakened. By the new energy 



70 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

radiating to them they may be restored even to the full- 
ness and vividness of the original event. 

Under the law of energy above explained, and by our 
hypothesis, it follows that one may consciously seek out 
an event or experience held in the mind and deliberately 
pour into it energy so as to make it pleasurable 
or painful in the old way and full of instruction. Like- 
wise the imaginative creations of the mind may be given 
an intensity that becomes a creative principle, a part 
of the very process, evolution and life of nature itself. 
"Without doubt all imaginations, being matter of some 
grade set in motion by energy, do contribute to all pro- 
cesses of growth and life, although we may be but little 
aware of it. In this connection w^ would call attention 
to a distinction between memory and imagination. The 
images of memory are all in the receding wave of some 
rhythm. The energy is departing from them. The 
height of the wave is lowering and seeking rest. With 
imagination the opposite is the case. Energy is being 
poured directly into all imaginative creations. We 
imagine things in which we participate either with 
pleasure or with a desire to avoid. They are creations 
of our wills and desires. They form the ideals we desire 
to realize in the most substantial manner possible. Always 
on the crest of an advancing wave, imaginations are a 
part of the mighty energy that moves and supports the 
world. 

When we say a man forgets, we do not imply that he 
has lost an iota of his former life. Somewhere involved 
within him is all that he has experienced, but he recol- 
lects it only as consciousness will permit. Consciousness 
in this matter is a stern dictator, and allows man to re- 
member but a fewi experiences at any one time. There 
are some exceptions known to this, such as that awful 
experience when one is in great peril or danger of 
sudden death. Then the flood gates of memory open and 
all that has been overwhelms the soul in consciousness. 

As a rule, however, the tendency of mind is to con- 
centrate on specializations and nothing short of the most 



MEMORY AND IMAGINATION. 71 

deadly excitation of the nerves has power temporarily to 
change this attitude. While in consciousness we get 
memories in localized images, grouped through the law 
of association, yet in reality the sui generis and detached 
aspects in which these groups appear are indicative of a 
complete chain of memories, that, though lying just be- 
yond consciousness, are, nevertheless, there. 

In sequence under the law of cause and effect there 
is no hiatus possible. If one thing is to be recorded on 
the tablet of mind all things that mind has experienced 
are recorded also. Not the smallest sensation in the 
chain of events is omitted. The apparent hiatus — ^the 
apparent vacuum — is in consciousness only, and that 
accounts for the fact of recollection or the power of call- 
ing up images supposedly not existent, and facts 
apparently entirely forgotten. This hiatus in conscious- 
ness, this ability to forget, is best proof of the exactness 
and eternity of memory. Out of the universe of things 
and experiences nothing is ever lost. In the realm of 
the emotions and ideas, which realm by the law of mem- 
ory is eternally preserved according to normal sequence, 
this law holds good. . Now the realm of emotions and 
ideas is mind — mind universal and mind particular. An 
individual's mind, then, can know nothing of a hiatus 
in actuality. Preserved there are all experiences of his 
life intact, not one missing, nor by the exactness of cause 
and effect can they ever escape. The events that go to 
make up his experiences are linked in a chain indestructi- 
bly. By no possibility can this individual chain, his chain 
— differing by the law of his individuality and environ- 
ment from that of every other being — be destroyed or 
annihilated. No two things can possibly be alike in the 
universe, for, although as seemingly paired as well- 
matched twins, the very fact that they cannot occupy 
the same place at the same time makes them different 
in environment and point of view and, therefore, in 
themselves no two chains of memory can be the same. 
Consequently, as nothing can ever be lost, these chains 
of memory by nature differing one from the other, are 



72 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

eternal. This argument, of course, is based on the 
accepted axioms that nothing is ever lost and that no 
two things can occupy the same place at the same time. 

Look back in the past in your memory anywhere and 
try to detach cause from effects, or associated ideas from 
one another, — it cannot be done. The images which 
symbolize them are eternal. To be sure they drop out 
of consciousness, but only out of consciousness, never 
out of the realm of ideas. By no possibility can anything 
in the universe be annihilated or destroyed. And this 
proves individual persistence of particular chains of 
memory and therefore eternal persistence of individual 
existence. Admitting the law of causality, the power 
to image events and experiences through sequence, the 
impossibility of a hiatus in the chain of cause and effect, 
the particularism attached to time and space, and there- 
fore events, the certainity that nothing can be lost — ^not 
even a mental concept — and we establish through mem- 
ory and the personalism thereto attached an eternity of 
individual beings, sometimes awake, again asleep, but 
everlastingly persistent and indestructible. 

When man forgets, he sleeps; when he remembers, he 
is awake. By our hypothesis of polarity, waking and 
sleeping are opposite conditions in consciousness or un- 
consciousness. As either state cannot be maintained in- 
definitely, man balances eternally near one or the other 
pole. "When an individual awakes after a night of ap- 
proximate unconsciousness, he picks up the thread of 
memory where he dropped it and adds on to it the period 
of unconsciousness through which he has just passed, 
treating it as an experience and giving it a place in the 
series of events. That this period of apparent unconscious- 
ness may contain other experiences recognizable by a 
higher power of consciousness, is not only probable, but 
under our hypothesis, necessary. The Unit of Force is 
never without contact with matter in motion and there- 
fore with consciousness pitched at some octave in the 
scale of being. 

Without memory, man could neither think nor live, 



MEMORY AND IMAGINATION. 73 

as we understand life. Without memory, an eternity of 
individuality, the consciousness of a past and the pros- 
pect of a future would alike be inconceivable. By mem- 
ory in its broadest sense, we mean not only the exclusive 
consciousness of things gone, but the chain of events in- 
tact which is lost only in the seeming. Nothing is ever 
lost. And here is apparent the meaning of that misunder- 
stood term '^recognition.'' A man seems to have abso- 
lutely forgotten something or some one, seen perhaps in 
early youth, but let him be brought face to face with the 
object, and, if not suddenly, after a time there will steal 
over him the consciousness of familiarity, culminating 
later in complete recognition. In his mind somewhere, 
though apparently gone forever, was the response to the 
thing recalled. Some bead in his chain of memories was 
the image of the object presented to his gaze. Upon imag- 
ing the present object, perhaps much changed, by the law 
of association of ideas and parsimony of mental storage 
room, the old and the new are drawn to each other and 
coalesce. 

To be able to forget or remember at will implies great 
power of concentration, for it means nothing other than 
the fixing of the mind so intently upon some specialization 
that all things outside it are eliminated from conscious- 
ness. By expelling the disturbing present, images of the 
far past may be made to appear. The man who willfully 
forgets, is the man who concentrates. Such a person, 
when he chooses, remembers with more distinctness than 
ordinary individuals, for upon any experience gone 
through with he can concentrate also. Therefore when the 
time comes the good forgetter is intense in recollection. 
His energy in both domains is at his command. Through 
practice he realizes that remembering and forgetting are 
opposite poles of the same process or thing. 

In old age the mind is so filled with data and generalizes 
to such a degree that it seems impossible to fix attention 
upon any one thing. The old person finds it hard to re- 
member, yet seems never entirely to forget. He dwells 
in thought largely in the past, upon experiences long 



74 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

gone, but scarcely with an intense memory. Instead, he 
seems to be watching the scenes of other days with the 
eye of an observer, rather than entering into them with 
the true zest of one who remembers emotionally, recalling 
his angers, hates and passions, and living them over again. 
Having ceased to live vividly in the present and no longer 
filling it with intense and all absorbing thoughts, the 
imagery of the past is not held at a distance, but drifts 
in upon him by its natural and inevitable attraction. Lit- 
tle vitality is needed to enable an image momentarily to 
fill a place in his memory. The whole process is a natural 
part of the closing rhythm of life. Having lost interest 
in the activities of the present, he works over and over 
the past, each time drawing in to himself some of its sub- 
stance, until nowhere is left a current of energy sufficient 
to awaken vivid emotions and he is ready to depart in 
peace. 

An old man floats about in the sea of his memories like 
an amoeba in a drop of water, apparently aimless and un- 
certain. The excitement felt by a man who can concen- 
trate and live over his past is unknown to him. An old 
man as a rule does not live over the past, he simply re- 
views it like an outsider watching a drama. He has not 
learned to expel the accretions and encrustations of old 
age that prevent any intense reaction or efficient use of 
his energy. But the good forgetter and the intense living 
man is often tragic in his memories, when he allows them 
to come surging into his consciousness. He lives again 
in the events gone, thrilling with passion, anger or joy, 
concentrating so intensely on his lost experience that his 
nerves know the same shiver and shock that the event 
induced at the time of its happening. His is no calm con- 
templation that watches the panorama of receding activi- 
ties. On the contrary, he forces the sun to stand still 
upon the Gibeon of self while he revels in a resurrected 
past that is held in the present by the powder of his con- 
centration, until through the law of reaction he drops 



MEMORY AND IMAGINATION. 75 

it once more into the abyss of oblivion. By centering his 
mind on some other object, he forgets it in toto. 

4. The Seat of Memory and Imagination in the Phy- 
sical Body. 

The attempt to locate the seat of memory or imagina- 
tion in the physical body would lead us into inextricable 
difficulties were we to depart an instant from the hypo- 
thesis that has guided us throughout the pages of this 
book. It is only as we consider that mind and matter are 
opposite aspects of one process, or as poles of the same 
thing, that we can connect the two in a logical complete- 
ness. If at any time we could find one without the other, 
we should immediately be thrown into a dualism impos- 
sible of solution. By this we do not mean that mind and 
matter do not appear in a dual aspect. To deny dualism 
in this sense would be to contradict all the facts. The 
hypothesis and solution which we hold is a recognition 
of the greater fact, that through polarity the one sub- 
stance is expanded into its two aspects, each of equal 
validity. They support and explain each other. They 
are opposite aspects of the same process. They are poles 
of the same thing. 

In physical phenomena, by our hypothesis, there can be 
no memory, only inertia, recurrent action, physical habit, 
periodic return, repetition of form and persistence of type. 
Action and reaction being equal, a pure cause injected 
into a simple environment would produce results which 
would repeat themselves forever. According to invincible 
logic, and facts as far as we know them, the universe is 
an environment containing in itself all causes. It is self- 
existent and evolves and involves under laws that con- 
dition the activity of both matter and mind. It contains 
the principle of Form and also the principle of Change. 
The laws which govern in a world of ^* Forms which 
change," agreeable to the facts with which they deal, 
may be stated in reverse terms, applying in this way to 
both matter and mind. As a result it follows that Form 
is one aspect or pole of the process or thing, and Change 



76 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

is the other. This being the case, we have laid a founda- 
tion for understanding both the physical and mental as- 
pects of memory. Let us illustrate the matter with some 
of the concepts of geometry. 

If one stands directly in front of a circle, it appears 
before him in perfect roundness. Eevolve this circle on 
its horizontal diameter, and to the sense of sight it changes 
into a series of ellipses. Of these ellipses each succeeding 
one shows a diminished minor axis, until the last ellipse 
merges into a straight line. The observer is the element 
of rest and the rotating circle is the element of change or 
motion. Eeverse these conditions so that the circle re- 
mains stationary and the eye of the observer passes around 
the circle, and the optical result is the same. First the 
circle becomes an ellipse; then the ellipse becomes a 
straight line. Then the straight line expands into an 
ellipse, and the ellipse becomes the original circle. By a 
similar relativity of position and motion, a square can 
be made to appear as a parallelogram, and then to vanish 
into a line. Lines may be expanded into parallelograms 
and squares. Right angles can be made to appear as acute 
angles and acute angles to transform themselves into 
apparent right angles. 

Take any extended object standing before the eye and 
having appreciable size. Remove it to a distance, and it 
grows less and less in size. Bring it nearer and it in- 
creases. The observer is again the element of rest and the 
advancing or receding object the element of motion. 
Again reverse the conditions, so that the object remains 
stationary and the observer advances or recedes, and the 
result is the same. If both the observer and the object 
move so as to retain the same relative positions, there is 
no apparent change in form. If either rotates on his axis, 
the other is forced to accelerate his motion in order to 
maintain the same relative position or point of view. 

During these experiments we assume that the normal 
form and size of the object with reference to other sta- 
tionary earthly objects has not varied, but the fact re- 
mains that a change in the relation of the object to the 



MEMORY AND IMAGINATION. 77 

observer, or of the obsei^ver to the object, has resulted in 
an apparent change in both the form and size of the ob- 
ject. We conclude that motion in either the object or 
the observer results in a new position, and that a new 
position gives a new aspect or form to the perceived ob- 
ject. Change in position results in change in form. Al- 
though these experiments have to do with the sense of 
sight, we are warranted in the conclusion that change is 
inexplicable, except as we posit an original form. 

So far, we define change as form plus motion. 

This brings us to the questions: How is motion at all 
possible, and what are the exact effects produced by it at 
the pole of matter and at the pole of mind? In the fore- 
going illustrations we have treated only of apparent 
change in form. Let us now penetrate deeper into the 
matter and formulate our propositions. We must find 
some yard-stick with which to measure the size of our 
objects, some standard by which we can judge of the 
permanence or mutability of our forms. The following 
propositions are evident. 

1. An object to retain a fixed size or form must main- 
tain a fixed relation between its parts. 

2. An object may retain a fixed relation between its 
parts, that is, they may all bear the same internal arrange- 
ment and relation to each other, and yet the object can 
increase or diminish in size. The object can be fixed as 
to form, but variable as to size. 

3. An object that bears a relation to some outside fixed 
object cannot vary in either form or size without the 
change being detected. 

4. If the outside object and the first object vary to- 
gether in a like proportion, the change cannot be detected, 
except by the assistance of a third invariable object. 

5. To detect any change there must be a fixed and in- 
variable standard or object. 



78 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

6. Objects of the same size, form and internal arrange- 
ment, in the mind become identified and coalesce, except 
as they are held apart by being assigned a different rela- 
tion to some third object. 

7. An object of fixed size or form must be capable of 
assuming an indefinite number of relations to other ob- 
jects of fixed size and form. 

8. All variations in size and form bring variations in 
the sides or angles of the triangles which establish the 
forms. 

9. An object may retain a fixed size or form itself, and 
yet by revolving on a central point within it, assume 
changing relations with other objects. 

10. The new form thus created may be detected by any 
object that has retained relation with some internal or ex^ 
ternal fixed form. 

11. The changeless form which thus establishes and re- 
flects all motions has a cosmic center through which pass 
all the dimensions of space and time. It is a unity polar- 
ized into all created things. It therefore bears a fixed re- 
lation to all objects and forms, or, to put it another way. 
all objects and forms are a part of this archetypal form. 

12. Motion may be defined as the ability of a limited 
portion of this archetypal form or object to draw near to 
or to depart from another portion of this archetypal form 
or object. In the physical world this would appear as 
motion, and in the mental world as imagery or conscious- 
ness of form. Even if the archetypal form is change- 
less, consciousness, by limiting itself to portions of it, will 
produce varying images and forms. Change likewise will 
result from the removing limitations from consciousness. 

13. Every portion of this archetypal form reflects every 
other portion. That is to say, each unit of force radicated 



MEMORY AND IMAGINATION. 79 

in this original form is a part of the whole form and 
must forever realize and envisage it from its special 
aspect. 

In the foregoing we have tried not to depart from geo- 
metrical conceptions concerning which there can be little 
dispute. Let ns now turn to the application of these 
principles to the problem of memory. Falling back on 
our hypothesis, we conclude that the Units of Force, 
which appear in one aspect as matter and in the other as 
minds, are the constituent parts of the archetypal Form 
of Existence we have referred to. The Form is the normal 
relation each bears to the other. It is symbolized by the 
pure concepts of number and geometry. We further con- 
clude that the relation between the whole and its parts is 
dynamic. 

It is force which expands and sustains the original 
form, and which brings about all changes and apparent 
changes within the form. 

By our hypothesis, we also conclude that the changes 
produced by energy will appear at the mental pole as 
consciousness and in the physical world as motion. Heat 
expands. Cold contracts. Energy in all forms produces 
motion. In the mental world, energy is directed by de- 
sire. In the physical world, it follows the line of least 
resistance. From this it follows that the Unit of Force 
may employ energy at its command to produce change in 
the physical world, or, in consciousnes, to envisage, ex- 
pand or contract any portion of this archetypal form. The 
measure of motion will be that portion of the Form with 
which the Unit identifies itself. The imagery seen will 
be the aspect of the Form from the particular stand- 
point chosen, plus all changes produced by the Unit ex- 
panding or contracting its consciousnes. In other words, 
the imagery of any moment of consciousness consists of 
intuitions of this archetypal form as polarized and af- 
fected by the energy of the Unit. Motion and conscious- 
ness are possible only by reason of the unity that sustains 



80 PSYCHOLOGY^ NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

the form and establishes its parts. Consciousness is also 
^^Form plus motion.'' 

In the foregoing analysis we have been seeking a phy- 
sical basis for memory. We wish to find the possibility of 
a synthetic consciousness of experience. We desire a rec- 
ord of each event which memory may synthetize at will, a 
chain of experiences, any link of which may be revived 
in consciousness. The record we find is two-faced. It is 
a polarized process or thing, a form realized through 
motion. If the Unit is treated as the element of motion, 
memory consists in the going back to the parts of a fixed 
record of form. If the Unit is fixed, then the mutations 
themselves are the record and may unroll themselves in 
the consciousness of the Unit. In either case, memory 
deals with a polarized product. Half of it is motion, the 
other half rest. The unbroken series of changes in ex- 
perience are as true a record as the seemingly fixed forms 
of any moment of experience. Memory^ grounded in 
unity and dealing with plurality, sustains the whole. By 
means of the unity any portion of experience sufficiently 
energized, or exhibiting sufficient tension, may be brought 
into consciousness as memory. Forgetting is the disap- 
pearance from consciousness of experiences or forms not 
sufficiently energized. 

What is called repetition or recurrent action in the phy- 
sical world, in consciousness will be the act of remem- 
bering. A pendulum swings back again and again to the 
point of origin of its motion. There are nodal points and 
oft repeated forms in all rhythmic motion. In mind, these 
recurrent positions, if brought within the field of con- 
sciousness, are memories. They remain memories only so 
long as they exhibit limited and special aspects of things. 
Memory is the mental pole of a recurrent process. It rec- 
ognizes the recurrent positions assumed by the parts of 
a thing or things because it is the energy of the Unit 
which makes them assume that position. The intuition 
of the pure, original form is not memory. A limited and 
special aspect of the archetypal form is possible by rea- 
son of the energy of the Unit. The Unit holds in con- 



MEMORY AND IMAGINATION. 81 

sciousness only those aspects of the original form it de- 
sires. It is concerned only with those changes in which 
it participates. 

From the foregoing, it might appear that we cannot 
remember, except as we again sense the remembered ob- 
ject in the external world, that the event must return 
to us, or we go back to it, in either case, to come in con- 
tact with the old situation preserved in a material form. 
True to our law of polarity, we say it makes no differ- 
ence whether the mind reverts to the remembered posi- 
tion or whether the thing or event appears in conscious- 
ness as a present experience. The important point is that 
these recurrent positions, if accompanied by sufficient ten- 
sion to bring them into consciousness, appear to the mind 
as memories. This does not mean that all nature has to 
repeat herself in order that the mind may reach the re- 
created form and image it as memory. This, of course, 
is impossible in the ordinary sense. No past event seems 
possible of exact duplication in the present. Under our 
hypothesis, energy proceeds from and pertains to the 
Unit of Force. It is his energy and none other. It can 
never be neutralized or brought to quiescence without be- 
ing returned to him as its source. In like manner, the 
Unit meeting force with force, is in this unified aspect a 
pure and simple environment in which all causes repeat 
themselves and work out their destiny as affected and 
controlled by the energy of the Unit. In this domain we 
find the conditions which make recurrent position or 
memory possible. We also find that unity which permits 
memory to condense and select those portions of its ex- 
periences which are desired in consciousness. If no selec- 
tion is made, nevertheless the exact memories come them- 
selves. Memory cannot cease until all causes are neutral- 
ized and compensated. Even then there will remain the 
cause of all causes, the possibility of all experiences. 

Applying the foregoing to the physical body, we con- 
clude that all sensation arises from motion in the par- 
ticles of matter of which the body is composed. Physical 



82 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

memory must be a restoration as near as may be of the 
original conditions in the body at the time of receiving 
the sensations. With the sense of sight or touch it is not 
necessary that the nerves carry to the brain and there 
record the counterpart of the image as sensed. Whatever 
course the tortuous nerve currents pursue when respond- 
ing to sense stimuli, we know that consciousness has ex- 
perienced the sensation in a particular way. For this 
sensation to reappear as physical memory, somewhere in 
matter dominated by the field of force of the Unit must 
reappear the motions which originally presented to con- 
sciousness the sensation. The field of force of the Unit, 
however, in all probability dominates subtler matter and 
more complex substances than science now connects with 
the physical body. This cannot receive full explanation 
until the part played in sensation and memory by these 
subtler elements is understood. The depth to which con- 
sciousnes may penetrate in search for a record or the 
distance it may travel for an event is limited only by the 
extent of nature's domain and the profundity of nature 
itself. 

Memory and imagination from the point of view here- 
tofore considered show aspects of both permanence and 
change. The remembering or imagining subject may be 
considered as either the element of motion or the ele- 
ment of rest. It is the same with the remembered object 
or thing. From this we clearly see that the process of 
memory is dual in its aspect. The contrary principles 
support each other. Motion is an energized aspect of 
form. Form is a dynamic relation supported by motion. 
All experiences are specialized, limited and insulated por- 
tions of the one archetypal principle of form, and of the 
one principle of change or motion. It would be inter- 
esting to observe at the mental pole the principles that 
correspond to insulation of energy and reflection and re- 
fraction of rays of light in the physical world. At this 
place we can only suggest that these principles show the 
possibility of acquiring a multiplied and varied know- 



MEMORY AND IMAGINATION. 83 

ledge of the aspects of an object at one and the same time. 
Indeed there is possible a completeness of vision which 
leads to the conception that everything can be seen and 
envisaged in multitudinous reflections if energy is at 
hand to break through the ordinary limitations of con- 
sciousness. Each Unit is an aspect of and reflects the 
whole. Breaking through the insulation that masks the 
particular Units, or by energy enlarging the field of force 
dominated by the Unit, consciousness may expand with- 
out limit, or, as the old books quaintly say, one acquires 
the power of making himself large or small at will. 

5. Abnormal Aspects of Memory and Imagination. 

The abnormal aspects which may be assumed by mem- 
ory or imagination are many. One may stand above or 
below the average in memory or imagination. In either 
case, if the difference is pronounced, it will appear ab- 
normal. The secret of good physical memory is good 
health. Any disturbance that uses energy and withdraws 
from the brain and nerves a normal and healthful blood 
supply Will interfere with the functions of physical mem- 
ory. Pain and discomfort in any portion of the body tend 
to becloud the clear images necessary to good memory 
and to render difficult and small their associative recall. 
On the other hand, exhilaration and excitement may 
brighten the memory and quicken the imagination, to be 
followed by the reaction of dullness and sluggishness. 

The abnormal element in memory and imagination is 
always some form of unbalance. It arises from too great 
intensity or too feeble effort. Long continued following 
out of a single line leads to abnormality. A person may 
specialize on a given subject until in memory he leaves 
room for nothing else. He may merely follow an unim- 
portant tendency, as when one becomes continually remi- 
niscent or anecdotal in his habit of thought until every- 
thing heard or seen suggests countless incidents, more or 
less apposite, but tending to crowd out of the mind more 
valuable growth. The material which fills the mind is 



84 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

usually selected with reference to the ordinary habits and 
occupation of the person. As more active mental life 
arises other principles of selection appear. If the tend- 
ency in any line is strong, the crop harvested is enormous. 
Some minds become a jungle of noxious growths selected 
and nourished by morbid and controlling habits of 
thought. Even if these accumulations are made casually, 
but extend over a long period of time, the mass accumu- 
lated becomes important and dominates the whole mind. 

The energy required to expel from the mind imagery 
which is not desired is as great as that required to draw 
in the desirable. In the healthy mind not only must con- 
trol be had over the expulsion and recall of particular 
images, but a process of generalization and combination 
of valuable material must constantly be going on. With- 
out this effort there would be no escape from a mere series 
of remembered events. This generalizing also consumes 
energy, but the result is a mental product as available and 
valuable as the particular images. One would be useless 
without the other. A completely specialized mind is a 
mirror that reflects, but never holds or comprehends. The 
number of memories which may be on call in the fore- 
front of the mind is of necessity limited and depends 
largely upon the degree of specialization and vitalization 
of the imagery. One may have at hand a mass of facts 
no part of which is realized to an extent sufficient to make 
it forceful or valuable. Little energy is consumed in 
holding them. The merely encyclopedic mind is seldom 
great in other respects. On the other hand an idea may 
be energized and held in mind with a constancy and ab- 
sorption that excludes all others. It may appear as the 
passion of genius or the delusion of insanity. Rarely we 
find a mind tremendous in both specialization and gen- 
eralization, preserving balance between the two inevitable 
tendencies, and sitting as a master to guide the interior 
life of the world. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Intuition and Understanding. 

1. The Special and the General in Knowledge. 

To intuit is to look upon. This is the first and universal 
meaning of intuition. Translate it into a higher sounding 
phrase, and you may say intuition is an immediate percep- 
tion, not a mediate. About an intuition there is no de- 
bating. It being a perception the proof is intact. We 
debate doubtful or undecided subjects. As an intuition 
is neither doubtful nor undecided, we cannot argue it. 
But if by its very nature we are debarred from debating 
about an object of perception, for the looker-on cannot 
deny that which he sees, nevertheless we may thrash out 
the problem as to how he came by this absolutely clear 
and accurate vision. 

Knowledge begins with simple sensation, or the direct 
intuition of object by subject. Consciousness, being the 
child of object and subject, at one pole exhibits complete 
objectivity, and at the other abstractions so pure that 
they seem without content. Lying between these extremes 
is the great body of knowledge composed of concepts. 
By our hypothesis all thought is the mental pole of some- 
thing existing in physical nature. From this it follows 
that matter must have an aspect corresponding to all 
mental conceptions of it. It is not a fixed or dead form 
beheld by intuition. It is not merely the phenomena 
which reaches us through sensation. Every perceptual 
change, every conceptual modification in the mind, must 
have its counterpart and reverse aspect in matter. 
Knowledge, like consciousness, is a polarized pro- 
duct and comprehended only by realizing the oppos- 
ing elements of which it is composed. The receptivity of 
the mind to sensations and the spontaneously arising con- 
cepts regarding objects are both a part of conscious life. 
They rest upon the foundation of an objective material 

85 



86 PSYCHOLOGY^ NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

world. They have no existence except as its reverse as- 
pect. Their subtlety is its subtlety. Every possible 
modification of a concept in thought betokens a change 
in some realm of physical nature. Sensations of objects 
are true representations as far as they go, and they and 
all thoughts about objects cannot in the slightest be 
divorced from the physical reality of which they are the 
other pole. Knowledge, therefore, is the mental counter- 
part of being. To know fully a material thing would be 
to hold in consciousness the mental pole of all that phys- 
ically constitutes the object. No object, however, stands 
entirely alone. It is related to all other objects. It has 
within it innumerable tendencies and forces. Its aspects 
are wiithout number. It is the effect of causes that have 
made it what it is and have assigned to it a particular 
place in space and time. This being the case, the mere 
sensing of phenomena gives no knowledge. A mirror re- 
flects, but does not understand. Understanding begins 
when variety is modified by unity, when the mind recog- 
nizes the causes and relations that unite in the perceived 
form. 

One extreme of conscious experience is specialization, 
and the other pole of the process of thought is generaliza- 
tion. By specialization, we mean an individualized and 
differentiated experience. In matter, it is merely an 
evolved and expanded structure or form. It is the climax 
of effort in a particular direction. The form which re- 
sults is from resident forces acting through an organism 
within a particular environment. The consciousness 
which arises is from energy limited to a determinate 
compass and directed with the intention of producing a 
particular result. All specialization uses energy subject 
to variations in mass and pressure. If the energy avail- 
able is not large, the tension may be increased by limit- 
ing the field of its application. Great results may also 
be achieved by energy applied towards a special pur- 
pose over a long period of time. 

Generalization is the exact opposite of specialization. 



INTUITION AND UNDERSTANDING. 87 

It is not a diffusion or loss of energy, nor a weakening 
of the tension and concentration that has resulted in 
specialization. It is force applied to hold together. It 
binds and unifies that which is otherwise forced apart. 
It is the opposite of the active and separating principles 
that lead to individual experiences and differentiated 
forms. Intense specialization necessitates somewhere an 
equally potent generalization. 

From the foregoing it will be seen that specialization 
and generalization must balance each other. To create 
consciousness or sustain any living form there must be 
this struggle between the opposites. The binding to- 
gether and the holding apart are the crossed-beams that 
support the world. There is no created thing but has 
this interior structure, no life but is ensouled by this dual 
force. At the mental pole specialization appears as sen- 
sation and the concrete content of experience. Through 
generalization, however, relations are established and 
there is understanding. 

2. Intuition as an Empirical Judgment or as Pure 
Knowledge. 

We will now depart from the use of the word intuition 
as meaning a direct sensing of object by subject and 
speak of it as containing some element of understanding 
or at least as arriving at results and decisions by processes 
of the mind too rapid for detection. With reference to 
intuition in this sense we have two opposing theories. 
If through intuition we sense objects and reality directly, 
the question arises as to how much may be included in 
this contact and how deep the vision may penetrate. 
Ordinarily we gaze upon a limited field and perceive of 
objects only their phenomenal aspects. Can intuition be- 
come more inclusive? Can it give any true knowledge? 
If it supplies material to be worked over into knowledge, 
by what faculty is this done and of what value is the 
result ? Put another way, the question is this : 

Is intuition in regard to all things, save perhaps space 



88 PSYCHOLOGY^ NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

and time, a product of evolution plus memory, or is it a 
faculty of the mind by which given things are seen and 
known with absolute certainty irrespective of memory 
(either racial or personal) and properly judged and re- 
lated? It is said that Herbert Spencer first rationalized 
the evolutionary hypothesis, explaining by evolution and 
experience the reason for intuition being in man under 
one guise, and in the animal and bird under another. We 
speak of the instinct of the brute and the intuition of 
man. According to evolution, it would seem that instinct 
and intuition are but shifting names for one faculty, 
namely : Memory of the results of past experiences, the 
experiences themselves forgot. To make the point clearer, 
we might say intuition in this larger sense and instinct 
are terms for a memory purged of detail and reduced 
to its essence, which is tested always by recurring sen- 
sations and instinctive reactions rather than by remem- 
bered groups of objects. Suppose a man intuitive along 
a certain line, and no matter whether it refers to locality 
or personality, he remembers no detailed experiences, but 
has instinctive feelings and reaction with reference to it. 
Now, may not these sensations and feelings be the subtle 
residuum from past experiences, either racial or personal, 
that, excited by the suggestion of a former environment, 
appear to him as instincts or intuitions? In other words 
he revives the emotional reactions of the past, but for- 
gets the details. 

The foregoing may properly be styled the evolutionary 
hypothesis regarding intuition, but there is another hypo- 
thesis founded on the Law of Opposites. The doctrine 
of the Law of Opposites is, that there is nothing in exist- 
ence, nor conceivable, but is supported by and manifested 
through opposing principles. All metaphysical and scien- 
tific concepts when examined are found to be of this 
nature. All laws are statable only in contrary terms. By 
this latter hypothesis, the past in all its fullness supports 
the present as surely as the present grows out of and bal- 
ances the past. In the same way the future depends on 



INTUITION AND UNDERSTANDING. 89 

the present as far as causes are already in operation. Put 
more accurately, the present is a fulcrum on which bal- 
ances the past and future. If man has a limited and 
relative side he must also have an unlimited and absolute 
side. All causes unite to make him what he is. All exist- 
ing things bear towards him a determinate relation. Ac- 
cording to his polarity or attitude towards his inner or 
outer universe he will know something or everything 
about that with which he deals. In agreement with this 
hypothesis of polarity, if man has the attribute of special- 
izing he must also have the attribute of generalizing ; the 
one being impossible without the other; and by this lat- 
ter power of generalization he may know infallibly of ob- 
jects, persons and localities, as surely as he can know par- 
tially by his power of specializing. According to this 
view, instinct in a bird or beast might result from its 
inclination toward the general rather than the special. 
Having few experiences, and those along simple lines, 
and lacking the inordinate self-consciousness of man, it 
would fall into the universal law of things without resist- 
ance, and therefore react accurately. Many other 
hypotheses have doubtless been advanced in regard to 
intuition, but these two seem the most worthy of 
attention. 

In studying the problem of intuition we must not over- 
look the question of energy and its bearing on our power 
to look on the world and know without apparent effort. 
We say apparent effort, for there is effort even in looking 
on, whether the evolutionary or polarity hypothesis be 
the explanation of it. Not only is the act of intuitive 
perception an expenditure of energy, but the attaining 
to the power of such perception through experience, 
whether personal or racial, has been through an enormous 
expenditure of energy. No matter where or how stored it 
cannot violate the fundamental law of cause and effect. 
Action and reaction must be equal. Nor can the polarity 
hypothesis be imagined an escape from a serious expendi- 
ture of energy. For the mind to generalize to the point 



90 PSYCHOLOGY^ NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

of absolute certainty, resulting in instantaneous percep- 
tion, is to open the -valve of the engine called man, and 
let all the steam escape at once. Consciously or uncon- 
sciously, a man with all knowing power along one line 
has dissipated himself over the whole expanse of the 
subject by one supreme effort, and well nigh loses his 
hold on individuality in the attempt. For the same rea- 
json the greatest specialist along any line is consciously or 
unconsciously the greatest generalist in connection with 
it, and has therefore the largest amount of intuition in 
regard to it. Again arises the question of energy. As 
the Unit of Force is limited in its power to generate 
energy, no man can generalize over more than a limited 
expanse of the universe at any one time without losing 
individuality and abandoning individual purposes. So, 
to be a specialist in any subject, is to be equal to a 
complete generalization of it almost to the exclusion of 
all other subjects. We would call such a person a great 
specialist, but very narrow as to general knowledge 
outside of his specialty, and this would be true because 
of his limit in energy. As to his specialty, however, he 
would be a generalist with a superb intuition. 

Let us illustrate this point by reference to the instincts 
of animals. Suppose a homing pigeon to have a restricted 
range of ideas as to the universe at large, specializing on 
locality only, so that his love of home is balanced with 
the power of absolute universality in regard to it. The 
very limitation of this pigeon's idea-conceiving power en- 
ables him through his unit of energy (itself being con- 
stant) to perfect himself along the line of his specializa- 
tion even to the generalizing of it into accurate instinct. 
So also with the bee, the beaver, in fact all the lower 
grades of animal and insect life. Energy, then, is at its 
limit in an individual's power to generalize. Even time 
itself, according to the Kantian conception, is an a priori 
pure intuition of the mind. Specializations in time result 
because man finds himself lacking in power to generalize 
upon the formal whole of time at once. Having insuf- 



INTUITION AND UNDERSTANDING. 91 

ficient force to stay the stream, he must generalize and 
specialize successively so as to focus here and there until 
like a spider he spins his web of specialization and gen- 
eralization about himself consistently with his point of 
view^ and the strength of his Unit of Force. 

According to this analysis the specialist is ordinarily 
narrow, but a great generalist within his limit, and 
possesses intuition either through memory of his exper- 
iences, racial or personal, or because of polarity, and the 
power temporarily to shift the poles of his being. If this 
be true, the individual whose Unit of Force is great, hav- 
ing in himself a constant but enormous capacity for the 
generation of energy, will have a wider range in which 
to universalize a subject or himself. He will appear to 
the world to be less of a specialist than he really is. He 
gets out of sight of human judgment because he reaches 
so far. Like the great thinker he is, if he chooses to draw 
himself in and come down upon any special subject, he 
handles it with weight. Such an individual has a mar- 
velous intuition about many things rather than few. He 
speaks with authority. He is an oracle; and his judg- 
ment is usually final and unanswerable. However great 
he may be, he still uses his powers subject to the law 
of conservation of energy. In dealing with matters which 
he has not comprehended either through generalization 
or specialization he will show ordinary fallibility. His 
great powers subject him to special temptations and mis- 
understandings. Intuitive and true in many things and 
conscious of his ability to fathom almost any matter by a 
few moments of concentrated effort, if he foregoes this 
necessary expenditure of energy, he will encounter the 
errors and mistakes common to all. 

3. Growth and Change in Knowledge. 

If one understands a thing, he not only perceives it 
and can act with reference to it, but can reason about it. 
Understanding implies subtlety and depth. To under- 
Btand any object is to get a thorough grasp on it with 



92 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

the tentacles of the mind. You sense it, you relate it, you 
weigh, measure and qualify it. Specially, you grapple 
with its individuality; generally, you relegate it to a 
class of its own. ^'With all thy getting, get understand- 
ing." That is, know the matter in hand as thoroughly 
as the human mind finds possible. Know your limita- 
tions as well as your capabilities. Know what you can 
and what you cannot know. Realize negatively all that 
you do not comprehend positively. Without this know- 
ledge of the mind's capabilities and limitations your 
understanding is at fault. Without knowledge of the 
limitations imposed, it is not understanding at all, but 
misconception and error, those ghosts of the dark which 
lead men into pitfalls out of which they find it hard to 
climb. The majority of mankind understand from one 
pole or the other of their being with faulty perception 
and reason. Not being directly under the proposition or 
thing they are investigating, they get a side-glance view 
and consequently lose balance in judgment. This meth- 
od leads to fatal shams and delusions with which the world 
seems teeming. Man fails to meet objectivity fairly and 
squarely with subjectivity. He looks at the universe from 
the corners of his eyes, or with a pronounced squint, and 
presumes to claim as his prerogative an understanding of 
that which he refuses to meet with a full glance. Hence 
our cranks, our pseudo-philosophers, our false prophets, 
our frauds. The tree of life and knowledge has roots 
as well as branches and leaves. If its root-nature, more 
especially its tap-root nature, is studied, its growth and 
bloom can be quite readily comprehended. But who, 
save a real thinker or one gifted with marvelous in- 
tuition, ever thinks of burrowing like a mole at the root 
of things? Your pseudo-philosopher makes a hammock 
of the boughs of this mystical tree and swings back and 
forth among its green leaves and flowers, warbling his 
opera-bouffe of apparent profundities to a vast audience 
that gathers from far to drink in his gushing words. A 
true thinker may get hold of a thing and understand it 



INTUITION AND UNDERSTANDING. 93 

with lightning quickness, or he may plod for it. Which- 
ever his way, he has squeezed it like a lemon dry of its 
juice and quaffed the elixir to the last drop. A man may 
have an a priori grasp on something he desires to know 
or he may logically anal^^ze and synthesize it till its parts, 
united or separated, are within his ken. He may also 
realize what he cannot know in regard to it ; then, as far 
as human terms and capacity go, he may be said to have 
understanding of it. 

Mind, pure and simple, is built from a logical base. By 
necessity its only method of true and honest expression 
is the logical method. Logos is intrinsic in mentality as 
well as in morality. It is Logos; and when the oracular 
word is voiced through intellect or heart we say, ^'It is 
spoken." The "logie of events" we might call causal- 
ity; a pure logic, necessity. While the mind is beaded in 
logic — with concepts and judgments set in it like jewels 
in a ring — in one sense we no more comprehend it than 
do we the Newtonian law of gravitation. When clearly 
seen, the fact is treated as an intuition, seems self-evi- 
denced and is no longer debatable. As it is impossible 
to conceive of two and two making other than four, so it 
is impossible to escape logic in the texture of the mind 
or in the operation of its laws when once grasped. 

At this point in our reasoning we are estopped and 
dumb. Thus far and no farther can we understand. The 
interaction of law and laws is quite easily in our grasp, 
but the Law! Can the included ever grasp that which 
includes it? Can a part envelope the whole? Or may it 
be that in reverse aspect the part cannot be less than the 
whole ? This is true logical polarity and the only solution 
of this antinomy of reason that forever confronts us. The 
opposite of quantity is quality, and reason is only true to 
itself in insisting that in quality it is the whole and that 
by reflection the whole appears in each part. It is by 
limitation that specialized experiences are gained, and 
their very intensity and distinct objectivity betoken the 
concentrated energy which shuts out the larger view. 



94 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

Times and spaces are but limitations of one Time and one 
Space, either of which conceived or grasped in its pure 
form reverses its aspect and seems a different product. 
Causality reduces itself to rhythms of action and reac- 
tion. All things are the polarized product of a self-gen- 
erating, self-existent universe and mind. Unified and self- 
existent only in its completeness and sufficiency, for by 
its inextinguishable polarity it gets back all its parts, 
creates and supports all things and lives its objectified 
thoughts and experiences forever. By our hypothesis, 
the laws of mind are but the laws of external nature in 
reverse aspect, and they will operate to strew the world 
with the intellectual corpses of those who fail to under- 
stand them or to adjust the mental half of their being 
to their sway. 

Looking at nature externally, we see only matter and 
its motions. In such a world a body never lacks reality. 
By its very nature it is substance and objectified. Al- 
though shaped by internal forces and governed by invis- 
ible laws, the constancy of these laws supplies us with 
all we know about external nature. The imagery of sen- 
sation is not knowledge, and the phenomenal aspects of 
things ordinarily presented to us, however attractive for 
the moment, would lose meaning and interest if we did 
not begin to analyze out and understand the law back 
of the phenomenon. It is finding the norm, the constant, 
the law, that gives us knowledge. All classifying of phe- 
nomena under concepts is a part of this irresistible tend- 
ency. All laws by their very nature are changeless and 
perfect, and like regular geometrical figures are but parts 
of a more inclusive perfect Form and Law. 

The one law that is constant through all variety is 
that, given forces once in operation, the mathematics of 
combination and change must prevail. This creation of 
differentiated and specialized forms is inevitable and the 
very gist of the law. If force is generated or manifested 
at all it must act according to its quantity. Mass is but 
the quantity of resistence, or inertia, which meets or car- 



INTUITION AND UNDERSTANDING. 95 

ries a gi-ven force. When force meets force there is in- 
crease of manifestation by combination or decrease by 
neutralization. From this it will be seen that all motion, 
generated by forces, must operate according to the law 
of action and reaction. Motion is by its very nature 
rhythmical. Viewed statically the resulting phenomena 
show polarized and opposite aspects. 

While the forces in nature are never seen and all con- 
ceptions of them are supplied by the mind, they are never- 
theless forces. The internal consciousness or comprehen- 
sion of them is the other half of them. Under our hypo- 
thesis they cannot exist in any other way. They form the 
body of what Kant would call non-sensuous knowledge, 
and must exist in reverse aspect in some consciousness in 
order to be forces at all. They are the very laws of nature 
and operate in her ways. 

The question of understanding resolves itself into a 
question of personality. Is there either within or without 
a unit of individuality which holds in its grasp all that 
may enter into consciousness and in that wonderful com- 
prehension establishes all relations and understands? 
It is evident that the subject which perceives all else as 
object is such a unit. In understanding, it and the object 
are one. This being the case, it makes no difference 
whether a principle or law is first observed or grasped in- 
ternally or externally. The law discovered will operate 
in both realms. Force is constant. The rhythms of 
cause and effect are sure. Knowledge is always self- 
knowledge and, dealing with forces, is and will be power. 
The internal world is of the same magnitude and com- 
plexity as the external. Of necessity it must exactly bal- 
ance it. Understanding is knowledge of the laws under 
which operate the forces that unite the two realms. 

From the foregoing it will be seen that, with reference 
to knowledge, there is growth and change. From an in- 
dividual viewpoint, all sensation is partly grounded in 
chaos and therefore imperfectly interpreted and under- 
stood. To understand a given experience, we must analyze 



96 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

its parts and establish all its relations. It must be grasped 
spatially, temporally, and with reference to causes that 
unite in it and effects that flow from it. This being the 
case, it is evident that there are all gradations of under- 
standing of things and events. All laws manifest and 
operate in each thing, but individuality is fixed by the 
predominance of some particular law. Ordinarily we 
seek only the law or principle of which we desire to make 
use. Man returns again and again to his rejected by- 
products to extract from them rare elements, glorious es- 
sences and colors. For nature herself there is no waste 
or by-product. All operates according to law. Each 
event is a perfect sequence of cause and effect. 

4. The Body of Knowledge. 

'^Unwritten laws; eternal in the heavens; not of today 
or yesterday are these, but live from everlasting and from 
whence they sprang none knoweth." 

What we call a law in external nature is internally an 
Idea. This is an old and honorable use of the word. It 
is a suitable name for the reverse aspect of a law, but 
we seem to have forgotten the dynamic feature which at- 
tached to the doctrine as originally taught. With a re- 
vival of interest in the study of external nature and a 
searching out of her laws, there must come a like dis- 
cernment of the internal aspect of the laws. Without 
an appropriate substitute for this ancient teaching of 
Plato, science is hindered and cramped in its effort to 
interpret the external world. With a clear perception 
of the nature and relationship of Ideas, all investigation 
of external nature would be given a new impetus and 
meaning, balance would be preserved in understanding, 
and growth in knowledge be secure. Energy once used 
to comprehend the working of a law brings order out of 
chaos and incorporates the results in the observer. To 
the extent the law operates, that particular realm is ever 
afterwards accessible and more easily controlled. 

If knowledge is a comprehension of the laws according 



INTUITION AND UNDERSTANDING. 97 

to which operate the forces of nature, then it must have 
a body to correspond with the organic complexity of those 
laws. Strictly speaking, a law of nature is neither in- 
ternal, nor external, but, like all things in a world of 
polarity, exhibits two aspects. In one aspect it is merely 
the rule by which the forces of nature, measured accord- 
ing to quantity, operate. It is the mathematics of com- 
bination and change. In the other aspect it is a proto- 
type or form which exhibits the result of the working of 
the law. This being the case, the infinite variety of 
forms actually realized or conceivable is the only limit 
that can be placed on the number of laws. Mathematics 
does not pretend to limit the number of its geometrical 
shapes nor will algebra cease to elaborate expressions, 
formulae and series. Eeduce the present world to mathe- 
matics, and, in the act, the variety of new combinations 
possible will be so apparent that the inexhaustible nature 
of experience is at the same time proved. This being 
the case, we see that Idea, or Form, is internally the free 
and creative aspect of what externally is matter moving 
according to determinable laws and with mathematical 
exactitude. Were it otherwise, there could be neither 
certainty nor knowledge. The past would lie unexplained 
and the future remain unrevealed. Mathematics is the 
opposite of free will, the other half of it. With causes 
once in operation, the mathematics of combination and 
change must prevail. 

For Form to exist at all it must have expression in mat- 
ter. Originally Form is pure as distinguished from ap- 
plied mathematics. By reason of it, s^Tithetic judgments 
a priori are possible, or in other words pure Form is a sol- 
vent of both the static and dynamic features of any event. 
This being the case, the body of knowledge referred to in 
this paragraph is a Kingdom of Forms or visible expres- 
sions of invisible laws. In becoming visible all forms 
are dependent on matter, or strictly put, appear as matter. 

By our hypothesis, there is no consciousness that is not 
grounded in an objective, material pole. The body of 



98 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

knowledge, therefore, is the order appearing in external 
nature by reason of its dependence on law and form. The 
extent to which this is realized in consciousness depends 
upon the individual, but whether comprehended or real- 
ized, it is still a kingdom which he maintains and by 
which he is controlled. 

5. Abnormal Aspects of Knowledge. 

From all we can gather as to the dialectic method of 
reasoning we surmise that it is a perfectly true and logi- 
cal method and only destructive when universalized 
through misjudgment in its manipulation. A yard stick 
measures a yard and is true to itself, but if some egoist 
gets hold of it and asserts that it measures a mile he is 
*^ Beyond dispute." 

The dialectic method was the Platonic and is now used 
altogether by modern schools of thought. It is simply an 
inductive logic, nothing more nor less, and therefore 
used by science along special lines. In fact it is the rea- 
soning of specialism rather than generalism. A dialectic 
reasoner gets hold of a datum and runs it to the ground. 
His curiosity is almost absurd. He pries, he spies and 
impudently asks questions like Socrates till his gourmand 
intellect is satiated along some particular line. Now, 
if he is wise in his dialectic or inductive method he will 
not attempt the drawing out of the universe through one 
needle's eye. On the contrary, he will know his values 
and assets and for just how much they count. In dia- 
lectically evolving a fish's eye, he establishes its history 
by an analysis and induction of the facts involved, but 
he does not necessarily find a beginning for the world or 
a divine authority for hell. His logic is true enough in 
its inductive method, but he, himself, if he so departs, 
is not true to it. The Kantian dialect, therefore, re- 
solves itself into chaos only from an attempt to make it 
produce the results of transcendental logic. Logic in a 
sense is polarized into the deductive and inductive. From 
the perfection of deduction or from wholeness or law we 



INTUITION AND UNDERSTANDING. 99 

strike out at specials and by the subtle penetration of 
induction we approach unity. 

The mistake man makes in handling this two-edged 
sword of logic is that of striving for the fruits of induc- 
tion through the deductive method and for the fruits of 
deduction through the inductive method. The reason 
why Kant calls dialectic destructive is simply because 
of the abuse of it in the common mind. 

In the finality of reasoning either all is illusion as far 
as man's understanding of things goes or there is no illu- 
sion. Man looks out upon objectivity and his face to a 
good physiognomist tells how he views it and what he sees. 
Some behold specials in excess of generalities and vice- 
versa. Again a rare soul gets an approximately balanced 
view, seeing wholes and parts, and these same parts prop- 
erly related. Now illusion, in the ordinary understand- 
ing of the term, would seem to be the disease of the vast 
majority in whom specialization over-balances generaliza- 
tion, the parts of their whole being misfiUed or improperly 
related to one another. An individual who looks on ob- 
jectivity after this manner fails to co-ordinate things. 
Causes and effects becoming divorced, he finds himself in 
a maze of illusion, which is all the more misleading be- 
cause he fails to recognize it as such. His obstinacy is 
superb. He sees a thing so and so and therefore it is so 
and so. Now we do not believe in discrediting the senses. 
We touch the world with them, get our images of out- 
sideness through them. Nevertheless, a deluded indi- 
vidual practically stops there, while a balanced person 
brings comparison, co-ordination and understanding to 
bear on the impressions captured through the eyes, ears 
and touch. He not only senses, he relates, reasons, de- 
cides. In other words, he deals logically with all images 
photographed on his sensitive subjectivity. 

A child beholds the moon on the rim of the East as 
large as a barrel hoop. The sage sees the same phenome- 
non. To both it is apparently the same size. There is 
no mistake about the law of imagery from light rays, but 



100 PSYCHOLOGY^ NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

the child stops there and lives in illusion. The scientific 
man, however, takes account of distance, locality, the eye, 
light and its principles, the reflecting power of the moon, 
etc., etc., and decides that while he saw correctly, never- 
theless the little planet is equal in size to a habitable 
globe. In this way a wise man can distinguish illusion 
from fact and in specializations safely trust his senses as 
guides. 

But how about generalization and the hidden dynamics 
which act under the guise of law? Here most certainly 
the would-be sage is likely to fall victim to illusion, mis- 
taking hypothetical matters for facts and dealing with 
theories as though they were proved. This attitude to- 
ward the abstract flounders him in a quagmire and makes 
him utterly incapable of heading any line of scientific re- 
search. One must approach a possible principle very 
cautiously, as though it were dangerous. He must touch 
this live wire of a law with gloved hands, for he does not 
know it, why it is or what it is, and he should be 
exceedingly humble. Right here let us refer to the much 
used term, '^self-evident." Why do two and two make 
four? '^ Because it couldn't make anything else. We know 
it from self -evidence." But what is self -evidence ? This 
kind of reasoning results in the Ego's clawing itself with 
its own talons. In other words, it is useless and proves 
at once that the unknowable is unknowable. If this be 
so, it reveals an abyss into which an incautious thinker is 
liable to fall. Probably his hypothesis is not a law at all 
but an illusion. In that case he would better steer clear 
of it. If, however, he has in grasp an eternal principle, 
newly discovered, he should remember it is djraamic and 
in its essence undiscoverable. This attitude assumed to- 
ward the abstract will most likely protect him from illu- 
sion. His limitations standing fixed he will recognize 
them and find protection in them. The law of cause and 
effect in specialization being apparent, he will grapple 
with things, and, understanding their relationship, become 
a master of life and its possibilities. But he is exceptional. 



INTUITION AND UNDERSTANDING. 101 

Humanity en masse is peculiarly polarized. In feeling it 
exercises common sense, but in thinking is easily duped. 
The balance, however, is approximately struck or the word 
** peace" would be unknown in its vocabulary. But let 
an individual emerge from the mob and cudgle his brains 
and try to think and regulate his feelings accordingly, 
leaving so-called instinct to bees and birds and substitut- 
ing a new-born reason in its place. Then let the world 
look out. The chances are nine out of ten that this im- 
mature thinker will either be swamped in the sea of his 
own delusions or become by his absurdity the laughing 
stock of his age. But the tenth mortal like the tenth 
muse will probably receive the gift of immortality and 
live through the ages. 

We have thus far been dealing with the subject of illu- 
sion and error as an unbalance between specialization 
and generalization resulting in a failure to understand. 
There is also fraud, lying, deception and related abnor- 
malities based on deliberate perversion of truth rather 
than on mistake. A full treatment of these topics must 
be left to Ethics, but we can here point out how actual 
fraud and deception is but an effort to prolong the illu- 
sion, under which the person is suffering. Illusion means 
nothing except as it brings to a person the conviction or 
belief that something exists in a particular way. The ob- 
server is not under the illusion unless he believes it does 
exist. Inasmuch as all things are possibilities and exist 
in potentiality, the illusory something, if imaginable, can- 
not be denied a certain reality. The mistake is to assign 
it erroneously to a particular time and place or to attempt 
to bring it within a particular rhythm of cause and effect. 
Now the intellect may shake itself free from the error be- 
fore the desires are done with trying to reap the fruits 
of the imagined or illusory situation. In such a case ly- 
ing and deception may be resorted to in order to bring 
others under the illusion or maintain them in their error. 
Few are strong enough to realize the price they will ul- 
timately pay in energy, with attendant emotions, before 



102 PSYCHOLOGY^ NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

they bring order out of this chaos willfully brought into 
their lives. 

Man is easily the dupe of any sharp designer, and de- 
luded as to the person with whom he deals. This same 
evil person may give truth; for the Devil can appear as 
an angel of light. Many cults have been forced on hu- 
manity by self-seeking fakirs, and yet the cults have 
lived and been to an extent a benefit to the world. All 
this shows that truth cannot be entirely disguised even 
by the veil of illusion. In the finality of reasoning, either 
all is illusion as far as man's understanding goes, or there 
is no illusion. If man is not prepared by cause and effect 
in specials, all specials will play him false. If he is ir- 
reverent towards generals, the law will turn and rend 
him. But if he knows that he does not know and what he 
does know, he is never deluded, for, by realizing the illu- 
sion, to him as illusion it ceases to be. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Periodicity. 

1. Motion and Rest. 

In treating of motion and rest we will consider them 
compound rather than simple. Like all important con- 
cepts each is an element in a pair. The single concept 
is meaningless except as understood in connection with its 
companion. Although the terms are antithetical, the 
paradox is only seemingly untrue. Each concept is sup- 
ported by its opposite, the parallelism being complete. 
The contrary aspects are views of the opposite poles of 
the same thing. 

This being the case, we conclude that the thing or event 
for which the concept stands is polarized. By polaHtv 
we mean separated into parts, while still retaining a unity 
that makes one thing. Events or phenomena we define 
as the experience of things. Externally this experience is 
motion. Internally it is consciousness or recognition of 
change. We are here at the fundamental point in our 
philosophy and must further explain and justify the 
hypothesis of this book. Under our hypothesis, there can 
be no phenomena without polarization and no polarization 
without Units of Force. Mind and matter, being opposite 
poles of the same thing, in this sense constitute only a 
simple. But the unity thus conceived of is polarized. 
Given two, necessitates innumerables. Each part is in 
quality the whole and exhibits polarity. At the mental 
pole there is unity. In matter there is always variety 
and parts. 

When we declare that motion and rest are opposite 
poles of the same thing we mean it in both the concep- 
tual and in the literal and actual sense. One may become 
the other at any time. At the poles each reverses itself 
and becomes the other. Motion infinitely rapid or infini- 
itely slow merges into rest. Rest, or matter at rest, is in- 
conceivable except as made up of parts in periodic motion. 

103 



104 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

At one pole the mind views rest, at the other pole, motion. 
At one pole we move through the world and are subject 
to its forces. At the other pole the world is contained 
in us and does our bidding. But the consciousness of the 
Unit jRaj at any time shift to the opposite pole. As in 
trigonometry, an element which passes through unity or 
infinity changes its algebraic sign. , 

By this same law, we see that the opposite poles or 
characteristics of any event or thing are linked in indis- 
soluble union. The mind or ego commands each, but in 
viewing one merges itself in the other. Consciousness 
arises from this polarity, whether or not it be analyzed 
or understood. So complete in application is the law, 
that we say it cannot be stated or grasped, except as the 
Unit of Force polarizes itself in a higher degree and 
stands back of both rest and motion as an unmanifested 
and unexpressed third, which is neither motion nor rest, 
but supports the two. This recession stands as a self- 
established series, infinite, simple, sure. 

By the law of opposites, all the parts and derivatives 
of any process or thing are permanent, though special, 
aspects of the thing. The compression and dynamic force 
of this concept is so great that it will penetrate and ac- 
count for all that is. If no element of change or instabil- 
ity is detected in it, it is a law in which the mind will 
find peace ; a rock by which physical things are supported 
and upon which we stand. It is the changeless law that 
accounts for change. Motion and rest are here forever 
combined. They support and explain each other. They 
are fundamental aspects of Units of Force. They are 
opposite poles of the same thing. 

2. Force and Consciousness. 

We have shown in the preceding paragraph how the 
Units of Force of our hypothesis combine in themselves 
both rest and motion and are therefore true entities. On 
account of this polarity they are able to participate in 
every event and to account for all phenomena. In them 



PERIODICITY. 105 

motion is grounded in rest and change supported by per- 
manence. This being the case, they are immortal. By 
the very law of their being, sequence in all their exper- 
iences, or cause and effect united, is absolute. The pres- 
ence in consciousness of the whole rhythm of any given 
experience is immaterial, for the known is fruit of the un- 
known, just as the unknown is inherent in the known. 
Each supports and explains the other. They are opposite 
poles of the same thing. 

Force is evidently dynamic, supplementing matter, and 
though apparently inseparable from substance, we never- 
theless define it as Cause, and Energy as that same funda- 
mental cause expressed. Force is never realized in con- 
sciousness, for as soon as it manifests it is energy or an 
output. Force is unknowable, but energy can be reck- 
oned upon, and rhythm is the key of it. Force per se is 
beyond understanding, but it would seem to be simple and 
a generator of perpetual motion. That which appears in 
consciousness is called energy, and is immersed in objec- 
tivity, expressing in duality as one and many. 

We assert that we cannot know the mystery of force by 
itself, and yet we give it seeming attributes; but these 
same apparent attributes are only surmised through our 
knowledge of energy, and make still more mysterious the 
generator behind it. We call it force for need of a better 
term, as we call matter dust for the same reason. 

But energy, on the contrary, ever active in manifesta- 
tion, is subject to the law of mathematics, and is reckoned 
by periodicity. Space and time are necessary to it; in 
fact matter conditions it and makes possible our dealing 
with it. Periodicity is but the tidal ebb and flow of energy 
conditioned by matter. Now matter may easily be de- 
fined as the stress and strain of energy in its dualistic 
manifestation or output, this same stress and strain ap- 
pearing in gas, liquid, hardness, softness, etc. It does not 
in the least concern us how we define or analyze this 
*'dust," in the question of periodicity. We will call it 
by its everyday name — matter, and study its rhythmic 
assumptions through its energetic expressions. 



106 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

Mathematically speaking, if man were subtle enough he 
could calculate on the tides of being with absolute exact- 
ness, but the intricacy of a wheel within a wheel, or a 
rhythm within a rhythm, makes a problem of incalculable 
complexity and almost impossible of solution. 

As all dust energized is rhythmic in its activities, and 
as dust or matter varies in density, etc., its different 
expressions have varying tides, acting and reacting upon 
each other, producing infinite varieties in potential and 
kinetic expressions, sleeping and waking, negatives and 
positives, that while big with life are nevertheless so 
sphinx-like in their inter-dealings that an Oedipus or a 
Laotsze could hardly compass them. Nevertheless the 
rhythm or periodicity is everywhere discoverable, and the 
law may be posited in defiance of opposition and proven 
here and there through experience. It is not hard to get 
special illustrations of rhythm, but as one mounts upward 
toward generalization, finding the rhythm of rhythms, or 
the periodicity of periods, relating and balancing the 
small and great, though the principle stands a mountain 
beneath his feet, yet the marshalling of data, and the 
relativities of the same are almost beyond his intellect ; he 
grows dizzy grappling with this marvelous mathematical 
complexity based on a single law. 

In his ow!n body man finds this dominating principle 
crying out in continual expression — ^^thus far and no 
farther." Man is a tidal being, a creature of ebb and 
flow, mounting to climaxes and subsiding by reaction to 
whence he started. Bach moment contains its rhythm, 
each hour, day, week, month, year, life ; so slight in an in- 
stant of time that he is utterly unconscious about it, but 
in longer periods becoming exceedingly evident and called 
by him, most appropriately, his moods. 

Now force, conceived of as simple, could have no moods, 
and only under mathematical stress and strain in coming 
out as energy can it be subjected to reaction through 
action. Action and reaction are equal, and there is no 



PERIODICITY. 107 

true and sustained pause anywhere, only an apparent 
breathlessness of being as the ''tide turns." 

Force manifesting as energy appears in two ways, 
namely, centripetal and centrifugal; but this latter ex- 
pression of it, namely, the centrifugal, is not the true 
force, but is due to the law of inertia. For instance, in 
the whirl and spin of energized matter all its atoms tend 
toward a common center, but through their very stress 
and strain to reach the desired heart of things throw off 
at a tangent a certain proportion; in other words, crowd 
them out, and they, thrown off and inert, speed directly 
ahead, going on indefinitely till through friction with 
whatever they contact they are deflected and perhaps re- 
caught by the attraction of the mass from which they 
came. So then the one centripetal force, by its very in- 
tensity toward centralization, is manifested in its oppo- 
site aspect of so-called centrifugal force. But it should 
be remembered that the tendency is not in the hypo- 
thetical atoms to fly off, but in energy to over-centralize 
itself and consequently to throw them off. 

Now all this bears on rhythm, and really explains per- 
iodicity. Inertia could never be realized without this very 
extravagance of energy. Polarity is discoverable in this 
way, and the negatives and positives are made apparent. 

In the stress, strain and whirl of energy in the being 
called man, he attains to consciousness of rhythm, and 
realizes his centralizations and his escapes, his homoge- 
neous and heterogeneous tendencies, his evolution toward 
organism and his dissolution into elements. One con- 
dition he knows to be synthetic and the result of a pur- 
poseful energy, the other a chaotic state due to inertia and 
expulsion. 

Having become by experience and inference conscious 
of this law as the base of his existence, he may in time 
ascertain its working in practical life and in a way be 
prepared for its tidal expression, and by this very prepa- 
ration in a manner forestall his moods ; that is, admitting 
the law of periodicity based on the nature of energy in 



108 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

matter, man is at once, in a sense, the king of it rather 
than the slave. Instead of blindly submitting to his tidal 
states of being, he transcends without annihilating them. 
At a climax he prepares for a descent and is never sur- 
prised. In the depths he girds up for a climb to the 
heights, sure of reversal of fortune by the very nature of 
rhythm itself. If one life does not suffice to prove the 
principle, another is sure to follow ; for the law stands. 

"We have studied the question of force sufficiently to 
discover that we know nothing of its ultimate attribute, 
but about energy or its manifestation we can posit char- 
acteristics. Energy we know polarizes into activity and 
inertia, expressing in periodicity or rhythm. But look- 
ing deeper we find another attribute in nature, namely, 
that of purpose or will. This latter never in the least 
destroys rhythm, but may most decidedly regulate it, us- 
ing time and space as factors by which so to do. 

For instance, a man may spend six months or six years 
building a house, the structure being upon the same orig- 
inal plan in either case, but whether he takes six months 
or six years, the same amount of energy is expended 
either way; or he may use energy in patterning it into a 
shape quite different from the original plan, provided 
an equation is struck. 

This erratic attribute in energy that we call will or 
desire may even exercise itself chaotically, with intention, 
over-throwing and destroying rather than in synthetic de- 
terminateness in building. 

Applying this factor in energy to the study of rhythm, 
we find that man may dwindle or enlarge his periodicities 
without for an instant destroying them. He may blow up 
his house with dynamite and prevent its normal decay, 
he may kill himself with poison and escape the death of 
age. The same energy is expended either way, he simply 
controls the time it takes to do it. When man becomes 
conscious of his power to yoke periodic energy to the 
steed of Time, he becomes a high ruler among the Gods. 
He cannot escape rhythm, but he can make it so short or 



PERIODICITY. 109 

SO long that it escapes him in consciousness, and to all 
intents and purposes, ''he takes his life in his own hands.'' 

Normal evolution is the slow, long, rhythmic expression 
of aeonic tides of energy, but when self-consciousness is 
fully attained the work of an aeon may be done in a cen- 
tury and that of a century extended through a cycle. 

Herein lies the open secret of the game of ''hide and 
go seek," forever being played between will and period- 
icity. The attributes of energy defy and foil each other, 
and thus develop in the very essence of being the sense of 
supreme consciousness. 

All force, under our hypothesis, is one in quality. Mani- 
fested as energy, forces may unite to produce greater re- 
sults, or they may neutralize and counteract each other. 
Energy neutralized, however, is not energy lost. It is 
simply taken up and absorbed so that it disappears from 
manifestation. All energy has this solvent quality and 
is transmutable into other forms. When once manifested, 
all that distinguishes one force from another is its insula- 
tion and its quantity. This being the case, the funda- 
mental question for psychology is to find out how energy 
is generated and what determines its quantity. By our 
hypothesis, minds are "Units of Force, each having the 
power to generate a constant but limited amount of 
energy, and no two alike in quantity." 

Looking at nature externally, we see nothing that 
shows how energy is generated or that gives individuality 
to force. There are no units of force which appear per- 
manently such. Material bodies with which we come in 
contact are only carriers of energy. All masses of matter 
are aggregates and compounds. It is true, physical bodies 
seem to carry definite amounts of energy, but it is of their 
very nature to absorb other energy and to radiate and dis- 
perse what they possess. In observing them we find no 
determinate core of individuality, no spontaneous gener- 
ator of force. Looking internally, the case is reversed. 
Consciousness is ever asserting the will and desire to do 
something. The inner self is a fountain of energy. It 



110 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

generates and gives forth inimitably, but, as we contend, 
invariably receives back its own. We therefore maintain 
that each Unit of Force is differentiated from all others 
by the quantity of its energy. Out of this difference arises 
all motion. "Without it the interdealing of the units could 
not be maintained. 

Inasmuch as sensation is dependent upon motion, and 
motion is but the manifested aspect of energy, we see that 
force and consciousness are opposite poles of the same 
thing. This being the case, they are also exactly oppo- 
site in characteristics. What you can posit of one pole 
you cannot posit of the other. All that appears at one 
pole will appear in reverse aspects at the other. From 
this it follows that force is unthinkable and in itself un- 
known. It is the unknowable pole of what appears as 
consciousness. Known only in consciousness, there can 
be no grasp of either force or consciousness, except as 
we discover the law that conditions both. If force in be- 
coming manifested or known is consciousness, by 
the same law it is apparent that when we 
lose consciousness, or swing to the pole 
of rest, we release energy and make it avail- 
able as an apparently new force. This rhythm of polarized 
activity is the key to an understanding of most of our 
mental processes. In the physical world we trace the 
energy involved in chemical and physical phenomena, so 
at the mental pole we may know that each shifting from 
the conscious to the unconscious pole of being is but fol- 
lowing a law that preserves balance in our lives, condi- 
tions all our activities, and is at the very foundation of 
all consciousness whatsoever. Without it there could be 
no consciousness. By reason of it, consciousness is the 
mate of unconsciousness and as eternal and sure. 

If sensation is dependent upon motion and all motion 
is but the manifested aspect of force, it follows that where 
there is motion there is consciousness, and that without 
motion there is no consciousness. As we have seen, how- 
ever, all motion is relative. At the nodal points rest be- 



PERIODICITY. Ill 

comes motion and motion becomes rest, accordingly as the 
consciousness of the observer is fixed. The standpoint or 
polarity of the observer, therefore, with reference to mo- 
tion and rest becomes crucial. Consciousness is also rel- 
ative. The unconscious of today is the conscious of to- 
morrow. Also, by the law of opposites, what is unknown 
to you is known to some opposing consciousness, the bal- 
ance being rhythmically maintained and complete. There 
is no shifting of polarity without passing through uncon- 
sciousness. The limitation is imposed by the very nature 
of polarity. 

It is the holding apart and binding together that sup- 
ports the world. 

From the foregoing it follows that all consciousness 
is no consciousness. The poles meet in perfect poise. 
Such a state is reached by either inclusion or exclusion. 
Passing through infinity or unity, each element changes 
its sign. Force passing through the Unit becomes mul- 
tiple as quantitative energy. Consciousness passing 
through unconsciousness restores to the Unit its force 
and the possibility of new experience. 

Memory and experience show us a perfect succession 
of rhythms of consciousness and unconsciousness, activity 
and rest in any one medium or grade of matter being 
quantitatively balanced. One cannot draw in without 
giving out. He cannot observe phenomena without in the 
act setting up the rhythm that drags them from him. 
Finding the law constant, we calculate by it and make it 
our foundation. 

3. Ehythm and Orbital Motion. 

True to the law of opposities, polarity itself exhibits 
both static and dynamic aspects. All space is polarized, 
there being no such thing as extension without polarity. 
The simplest expression of the static aspect of polarity 
is the straight line. To conceive of it, one must as it 
were mark one end with the ^^ + ", the other with the 
'' — " algebraic sign. In order to have the positive or the 



112 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

negative, there must also be the neutral point that sep- 
arates the two. 

The dynamic feature of polarity is rhythm. The sim- 
plest expression of this is the swinging pendulum. A 
pendulum swings through an arc subtended by a chord. 
It can swing in no other way, yet it arrives in its oscil- 
lations at the points established by the termini of the 
chord. From this we see that motion is inherently 
rhythmical and yet indissolubly connected with its static 
pole of a fixed form. What this union is, is a mystery, 
but it is apparent that motion and rest are opposite 
poles of one process or thing. 

If motion is the dynamic pole of rest and visible form, 
then it follows that rhythm is the only true expression 
of motion. By rhythm we mean simply the positive and 
negative aspects of motion shown in recurrent positions 
and states. These recurrent positions appear in all 
motion, action and reaction being equal. Any deviation 
from motion along the lines of a fixed form arises from 
a new force affecting the original motion. Where two 
or more forces act on a moving body the result is 
rhythmical motion. 

The difference between motion and rest appears to 
be merely one of polarity. Force applied in one direc- 
tion produces motion, and the same amount of force 
applied in the opposite direction produces rest. The 
rest thus produced, however, has taken up the energy 
manifested by the force. By all our hypotheses, the 
object retains internally the motion or~ disperses it as 
light, heat or some other form of energy. This being 
the case, it is apparent that a body in motion cannot 
reach a state of rest without giving off energy or con- 
verting it into internal motion. This internal motion in 
turn gives it all its characteristics as a body and makes 
it a seemingly extended and static thing. According to 
the polarity, i. e., position of the plane of wave motion, 
it will affect other vibrations and appear as a fixed object 
or thing. Best, therefore, we define as internal and 



PERIODICITY. 113 

approximately balanced motion. That which is balanced 
internally does not actively disturb or affect others, and 
appears at rest. Motion too rapid or too slow to inter- 
fere materially with this internal motion will not set 
going vibrations sufficient to affect our consciousness or 
even make the object visible or appear as a thing. 
Things are systems of motion dominated by some unit 
of force. 

When we say that motion is inherently rhythmical 
we do not mean that it cannot assume any form. The 
primal impulse of all force is to act in a straight line. 
Indeed, it seems always so to act, manifesting as attrac- 
tion or the tendency to directly contact its object. Thus 
set in motion it becomes quantitative energy and must 
remain such until transformed by some polarizing act 
of the Unit of Force. But force cannot manifest as 
energy except as it encounters other forces. Matter 
is dependent upon the strain and stress between units 
of force. There must be both action and reaction. 
Without this, energy would not be apparent and would 
have no carrier. When force is once manifested as 
energy, its true expression is action and reaction or 
rhythmic motion. Ehythmic motion, however, is not 
confined to the simple swing of the pendulum. The real 
tendency is towards a greater arc of completer form 
of motion. If sufficiently energized the pendulum will 
swing in a circle around the central point. The central 
point in turn is never at rest so the true tendency or 
form of rhythmic motion is spiral. Spheroidal shapes 
and cones, traced by spirals of motion, exhibiting in 
cross-section approximate circles, ellipses, parabolas and 
hyperbolas, are the curious fruits of the orbital motion 
which determines the periodic function of the energy of 
Units of Force. 

4. Law and Laws. 

Under our hypothesis consciousness results whenever 
force becomes energy, or in other words, is polarized 
into motion. Energy in turn is conditioned by matter, 



114 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

space and time being necessary to it. This being the 
case, we see that motion, in space and time, and con- 
ditioned by matter, is necessary to energy, and is the 
law under which it operates, a necessary condition of its 
manifestation. In this principle of necessity for special- 
ization, we find the one Law' of all manifested life, the 
Parent Cause of all the special tendencies or laws re- 
vealed in its working. Both the Law and the laws are 
permanent, invariable, constantly working, inevitable. 
In their nature independent and unconditioned, a law 
grasped is a slave forever. Given the necessity for 
specialization of the Law, which is merely the mathe- 
matics of combination or environment, the laws, or ten- 
dencies resulting from the rhythmic assumptions of 
energy in the interdealing of the Units of Force, are a 
limitless field of experience operating with mathematical 
exactitude, yet based on a single Law. In this book, 
therefore, we deal only with forces operating according 
to law. 

The necessity for a physical body is a direct result of 
the operation of this necessity for specialization. Force 
manifested is energy. Energy is periodic, or reckoned 
as rhythmic motion. Ehythmic motion results in a sys- 
tem of motion dominated by some Unit of Force. We, 
therefore, conclude that every Unit of Force is capable 
of polarizing itself into countless units and of maintaining 
them as a self-centered constellation or universe of 
motion. This internal universe is mind or the free and 
unconditioned aspect of its opposite matter. Internally, 
however, the Unit can have no experience except the 
witnessing of its own creations. Externally all is ex- 
perience and the intense consciousness that results from 
friction and interdealing with other Units. One is free 
only as he recognizes that others are free, and this con- 
sciousness arises from encountering objective necessity. 
Out of this clash of pure forces is created the visible 
universe, operating in manifestation with mathematical 
exactitude and supported by invisible laws. Its energy 



PERIODICITY. 115 

is the energy of all. In it physical bodies are shields 
to intercept such waves of energy as their vibratory rate 
can encounter and modify. In it Units of Force realize 
the existence and experience the life of other Units of 
Force. Under our hypothesis there can be no other way. 
The unknowable may be felt in the heart as emotion or 
adoration, but the Lost Self for which the soul is con- 
stantly seeking is all the Universe which is not I. 

5. Abnormal Aspects of Periodicity. 

(a.) Necessity. 

If one were asked what his heart most desires he prob- 
ably would answer: '^The eternal possibility of ex- 
perience.'' If he only knew, there were no need of such 
a request, for in necessity the gift is already in his 
hands, however lightly he may at the time esteem it. 
By necessity we mean, first, the necessity for specializa- 
tion of the Law as explained in the preceding para- 
graph, and, second, the mathematical principles in the 
combinations that make the environment of life. These 
countless tendencies inherent in the Law itself are the 
specializations of the Law, and each reveals a quality 
distinctively its own and desirable as a ground and 
possibility of a special experience. The intensity of 
individual experiences may vary, but the quality of the 
whole is inherent in each part. Little constellations and 
systems of motion may pattern after big, and size is 
only a dynamic distinction between all straight lines, 
circles, squares and other figures. 

The first and simplest expression of the Law of Neces- 
sity is that Causes once set in operation create a rhythmic 
figure of motion closing at and passing through its 
initial point, and without outside interference, thus con- 
tinuing forever. This form may be considered as either 
rest or motion, having in itself the full qualities of both 
elements. This being the case, it follows that each of 
us carries about with him his world of causation, al- 
ready manifested, and standing back of him as a per- 



116 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

petual support to make him what he is. Indeed, he 
would be nothing at all without this internal gyroscope 
to give him a personal plane of motion that can and does 
run, counter to every other plane. 

When man sees within him this necessity and first 
feels its enormous potency and weight, it is liable to 
absorb his whole view. ^^ There is naught without cause, 
there will be naught without cause and I stand nerve- 
less and powerless realizing the force of this irresistible 
current and ready to resign myself to its over-whelming 
waves." The escape is not to realize less necessity and 
causation, but to experience its all embracing quality to 
the limit. Such an one is ^^Near the Kingdom," for all 
cause is no cause except as supported by a perpetual, 
inherent and constant fountain of creation which is the 
same will and desire that now battles with its former 
creations. Under our hypothesis, there is naught which 
man can experience, sense, or be conscious of— there is 
not the slightest event that can come in to lure or oppress 
him — that is not a matter in which he has already par- 
ticipated as a full and equal partner, or one which to 
interest him at all must be half supported by the mani- 
fested energy of himself as a Unit of Force. Let him 
learn once to call in and withdraw from general cir- 
culation this energy which he has given forth and he 
will see how quickly the mood and complexion of the 
whole matter will change. The pull, the stress, the 
strain, the whirl of every event which oppresses or over- 
whelms him is but the rhythmic motion of the energy 
which he himself has given forth. True, the form of 
motion is a resultant of the other forces he encountered, 
but he got as much as was taken and the scales of Justice 
hang even. 

This habit and settled tendency of motion, or pure 
periodicity of manifested energy, is the only field of 
consciousness, and forms the visible world. It is the 
realm which science investigates and out of which she 
extracts all her laws. It is the frictionless fiy-wheel 
of existence keeping in motion the orbs of life when they 



PERIODICITY. 117 

desire to gaze in the still mirror of the soul and by in- 
ternal illumination behold its working. It is pure neces- 
sity, unsupported by any cause except its exact opposite, 
the free will or desire which gave it birth, but which 
is the same will that can work over and modify it in 
any particular, by paying the same price in energy as 
was originally paid for these imperishable goods. Evo- 
lution is '* mathematics ' ' plus ^^will,'' and the two are 
eternal life. 

(b.) The Free Will. 

As something by its very nature necessitates nothing 
or space, so freedom (the will) by its very nature im- 
plies restriction or necessity. 

Freedom in its clash with itself, through divisibility 
or number, implies necessity. 

As one will alone would be no will, and as will or 
freedom can be had only through the many, represented 
by things or other wills, this very many makes for re- 
striction, which is called, for want of a better term, 
necessity. 

This is the master parallel in opposition in energy 
itself — freedom and restriction. 

Will as will (desire) is unconditioned, but as manifesta- 
tion it is the reverse ; so we have the conditioned, in its 
primitive attribute unconditioned, and the unconditioned 
in its expressions hedged about with conditions. 

Back in primal consciousness man feels desire; this is 
intrinsic in his nature and wholly free and untrammelled. 
He may even have some special exterior object to which 
he directs it, but as long as he only desires, he is still 
free — his aspiration and longing being boundless; equal 
perhaps to his Unit of Force, and no other will can inter- 
fere. But let him once bring this unconditioned desire 
from the inner realm of freedom to the outer one of 
restrictions, where other once-free wills are fighting for 
supremacy, and he is environed immediately, and not 
only environed, but possibly prohibited in his attainment 
of that for which he longed. 

Now one might argue that by the very fact that man 



118 PSYCHOLOGY^ NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

desires some thing, he conditions his will to the limit of 
that thing; but this is false reasoning, because will is 
desire of specials. Therefore, when he seeks them, the 
attribute is true to itself, which is freedom in desiring 
something — unlimited freedom in so doing. 

We have written reverently of Force as the unthink- 
able source of energy, but para-force is purpose or 
desire ; in fact, it seems to be an attribute in energy itself. 
Now we cannot write upon the subject of rhythm with- 
out touching upon this, and showing that while the law 
of periodicity is in no way changed by this other factor 
in energy, it may be, nevertheless, dealt with. 

An energetic purpose may regulate rhythm without 
getting rid of it, and in the regulating carry out its aims 
in spite of it. 

This freedom of will inwardly counts for something as 
much as does this restriction of will's expression out- 
wardly. 

This inward purpose, grace or aim, by its boundless 
interior freedom, comes forth into restricted environment, 
with the impetuosity of an engine, fired for an up-grade ; 
and by its very speed and excess makes headway against 
inertia, and the impact of obstacles free like itself. To 
be sure its limitations are soon felt, but if the generator 
within is steady and hot with desire, it to an extent over- 
rides difficulties somewhat as the locomotive leaps an 
unbridged chasm by its very impetus. We must not 
forget that while the limitations are forever there, that 
the freedom is there also, and the dilemma belongs, after 
all, to one principle. 

Though a purposeful energy as energy may outwardly 
find its opposite in friction and inertia, if our hypothesis 
be true, that will and necessity are the master parallels 
in energy — what moral, ethical and practical use shall 
we make of this fact? 

The Darwinian school of philosophers culminating in 
Spencer, while calling the will natural selection, never- 
theless steer clear of the subject of freedom, and while 



PERIODICITY. ^ 119 

not denying fail to emphasise it. On the other hand, in 
Germany was to be found one strenuous advocate of the 
world's will in the person of Schopenhauer. Each school 
strove to build a system for practical living upon its base. 

But where is the Mencius of modern psychology, who 
not only recognizes polarity, but teaches its application 
in the golden mean of living? 

It is easy to posit h;y^othetical principles and not 
altogether difficult to gather data to partially substan- 
tiate them, but when ethics are to flower out of the 
same it is quite another affair. Since the age of Greek 
philosophy, polarity or the identity of contraries has 
been harped upon and wrangled about, the Kantian 
school, especially, basing upon it; but if this principle 
be the key to balance and right adjustment, physically, 
mentally, psychically, why in the name of all that is 
great and modern has it not taught us the practical 
solution of the problems of life ? 

What do mental g^onnasts amount to if they cannot 
apply their formulas and principles to the solving of the 
puzzle of life itself? 

Though this work presents no new hypothesis, it does 
claim uniqueness in the emphasis of an old one — an em- 
phasis so pronounced that it insists that from the law of 
rhythm may be deduced the fairest and best-advanced 
method of living in use in modern times. 

In Ancient China Confucius built up and added to the 
antique ^^Book of Changes, '^ crudely perhaps but never- 
theless surely, by the law of rhythm alone foretelling 
and foreseeing results impossible of discovery otherwise. 

Life was read in the classic days of Old Cathay by the 
law of periodicity, and possibly we moderns have some- 
what yet to learn from that ancestral race. 



CHAPTER X. 
Poise. 

Those who have read with atttenion the pages of the 
preceding chapters of this book will have observed that, 
while we have been true to our hypothesis that mind and 
matter are polarized aspects of the same thing, we have 
nevertheless enlarged the concept so as to speak with 
confidence of the Units of Force and their interdealing. 
This has been no random departure, nor artful device, 
but, as we intend it, a logical fruition of the original 
insight of our hypothesis. 

The parallelism of mind and matter, as we have seen, 
is not because of any impossible gulf between the two, 
but for just the opposite reason. They are parallels by 
inner necessity and dependence. One cannot exist with- 
out the other. Each has its function to perform in 
supporting and explaining the other. They are opposite 
poles of the same process or thing. 

This opposition between mind and matter is merely 
dynamic, a complete polarity and nothing more. It is 
idle to rank one above the other. It is futile to attempt 
to comprehend one without understanding the other. 
Indeed, the mission of this book is to show that in 
investigating one you are studying the other, that if 
you conquer one, you may rule the other. The laws of 
nature work in both realms, but in reverse application. 
Force is constant. Its contrary aspects of mind and 
matter are opposite poles of one thing. 

Proceeding under our hypothesis, we have attempted 
to show that consciousness is a whole, having parts; 
that desire or will is the moving cause of all that exists; 
that action and reaction are equal; and that emotion 
accompanies the flow of all energy. We have taken up 
the problem of pleasure and pain and shown their neces- 
sary balance. We have studied imagery, memory and 
imagination, and intuition, and struggled with the under- 

120 



POISE. 121 

standing. In the last chapter we have faced the 
horned dilemma of periodicity and free will, and estab- 
lished the Master Parallel. But to what end is such an 
investigation unless through it we are to reach illumina- 
tion and a Master's poise? We shall not speak of this 
final adjustment, this balance, this motion so rapid that 
it may seem rest, without curbing rhetorical expression, 
and again taking up the cold formula which must stand 
or fall as scientific fact. 

The best expression of the completed hypothesis that 
results from the investigations of this book we think is 
found in the words of another. ''We postulate immortal 
Units of Force, each having the power to generate a 
constant but limited amount of energy, and no two alike 
in quantity/' (Hatch, Scientific Occultism, p. 5.) It is 
our inevitable conclusion that the phenomena of mind 
and matter necessitate the postulate of a unit, and a 
unit not of matter, nor of mind, but of Force. We hold 
that each unit has the power to generate a constant but 
limited amount of energy, and that no two are alike in 
quantity. As to there being units, we expect little dis- 
sent. Their immortality w^e base on the nature of motion 
or rhythm itself. By the workings of this law, we find 
that consciousness parallels unconsciousness as its insepa- 
rable mate, and that the Law of Khythm conditions both 
and becomes our foundation. The power to generate 
energy is for us a mystery, apparently an insoluble fact. 
We recognize it reverently, forced to subjectivity in its 
contemplation. The remaining and crucial point of the 
hypothesis is that each Unit of Force is limited in its 
amount of energy, and that no two are alike in quantity. 

If this be provable at all, it will be by a statement so 
simple that its power may easily be overlooked, or by an 
experience so profound that few can reach it. We shall 
not struggle in argumentation regarding the point, 
knowing that each reader will fix his own attitude, and, 
if hostile, will seek diligently to find an exception to this 
curious law. 



122 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

The power to generate energy is but the power to 
maintain motion at some rate. If the rate of motion is 
fixed, the amount of energy is limited, although its 
intensity may vary. Frequency, amplitude, and wave 
length are special and relative aspects of the original 
vibratory capacity. It is the number of combinations 
possible with other vibrations that determines the result. 
This being the case, our postulate of Units, limited in 
their power to generate energy, simply means that they 
can make only certain combinations with other units. 
This is illustrated perfectly by the prime numbers of 
mathematics. Indeed, it is more than an illustration, 
for we think the external world is made of mathe- 
matics — but of mathematics ensouled and rightly under- 
stood. In number we find exactly the fixed and solvent 
quality necessary for a living thing, a perfect symbol of 
the One and the many of all philosophic systems. 

In polarity we find the key to all manifested energy, 
its rhythmic motions being computable and in their 
certainty forming a stable element in all the flux and 
change, which otherwise would baffle us and make impos- 
sible a rational system. But polarity, as we conceive it, 
is grounded in a subtler and deeper principle. For want 
of a better name, we call it will or desire. What we 
desire to know is whether or not will is a fact. Finding 
it everywhere, as the other half of mathematics or neces- 
sity, we assign to it equal validity and proclaim its 
existence without apology or hesitation. We also accept 
the consequences of responsibility that flow from it. But 
the beginning of will under our hypothesis is so simple 
that we often overlook it to turn to its more complicated 
manifestations. At the bottom it is the power to act or 
not, as one wants. If there is no activity or motion, 
there is no energy. If there is no energy generated, the 
Unit is free. 

The power to act or not to act at will, residing in 
the Unit of Force, is in the finality a pure polarity. It 
is a push or a pull that may be exerted at any time, or 
in any direction. In stricter analysis, we see that it 



POISE. 123 

manifests in a consciousness which may be so polarized 
as to transcend all except the rhythmic aspects of space 
and time. This freedom and potency may produce tre- 
mendous results. 

In acting or not acting, one has full control over the 
setting in motion of new causes. Through the subtler 
aspects of the principle of polarity, the point of contact 
or injection of a new cause in the external world 
may be determined. The quantity of energy manifested 
may also be controlled. In this way the consequences of 
one's act may be gauged in advance. Causes already in 
operation may likewise be modified to any extent by 
paying the necessary price in energy to redeem them from 
objective slavery. 

In withdrawing energy from the objective world there 
is nothing lost. We do not toy with the idea of some- 
thing from nothing and nothing replacing something. 
Our philosophy is too energized to countenance such an 
illusion. What disappears as motion must reappear as 
mass. The insulation of polarity makes this possible, 
and conserves perfectly the energy which otherwise would 
be without explanation. Mass would seem to be internal 
motion capable of acting externally upon breaking 
through its proper insulation. Assuming a cause to be 
operating in the external world, if any Unit of Force pays 
the price in energy necessary to relieve himself from 
responsibility, he in the act restores to the others energy 
sufficient to make the modified cause carry the same mass. 
In this way the equation of energy is maintained. 

In this way, using our original hypothesis, we have come 
to the conclusion that the amount of energy of the unit 
is constant. By this we mean that in manifestation it is 
always an equation, action and reaction being equal. 
Measured by rhythm, each term works with mathematical 
exactitude. It is a theory of absolute offset or deferred 
balance. Action being equal to reaction, there is in one 
sense neither time nor motion in the event, except as 
maintained by polarity or the shifting of the pole of 



124 PSYCHOLOGY^ NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

consciousness of the Unit of Force. To maintain this 
theory, the rule must be logically stated, and the various 
apparent exceptions explained. 

We first call attention to the fact that all bodies seem 
dominated by an internal consciousness or force. It 
is also true that there is a limit to the force exerted. The 
amount of matter which we see held together in com- 
plexly organized bodies is not large, and the rule would 
seem to place a limit upon all forms of organization 
held together by a unitary force. Externally, there is 
no unit visible. Mass simply appears and theoretically 
may increase without limit, or be infinitely divisible. 
We conclude, therefore, that the Unit of Force appears 
as a unit only internally, and recognizes its own limita- 
tions. In the same manner it establishes its force lines 
and determines the center of gravity of its interests. 

This being the case, the Unit of Force in dealing with 
any rhythm or cycle of manifested energy, can generate 
or maintain a limited though constant am.ount of energy 
determinable by the mathematical combinations possible 
between the normal vibration rate of the Unit of Force 
and the dominant note of the evolutionary cycle in 
which it appears. In other words, the unit can generate 
a constant but limited amount of energy, or vibratory 
activity, and in all its interdealings with the Units of 
Force so manifesting, will be limited to the amount of 
energy at any time at its disposal. This may vary 
greatly, as the Unit may conserve its energy and the 
resulting mass will carry the potentiality of the whole. 

Taking man as an exemplification of the working of 
this law, we find that he has infancy, manhood and old 
age. He is weak as a child and at old age again closes 
the rhythm with helplessness. By our hypothesis, his 
energy in childhood is absorbed in elaborating the grow- 
ing tissues and pushing forward to efficient adult strength. 
In the prime of manhood the most energy is available and 
little is needed to preserve the body in harmonious 
action. It is free to work in a thousand ways. Many 



POISE. 125 

processes formerly requiring conscious effort have now 
been reduced to automatic processes. The energy used 
in aquiring a thousand habits and in active sense per- 
ception and contacting the external world, may now be 
used for mental processes that involve judgment, deliber- 
ation and purposeful dealing with men. In old age this 
free energy is again drawn in. Finding the accretions of 
old age dimming his experiences, man loses interest in the 
body and prepares for departure. Various activities 
have absorbed and used up his whole energy. Until 
freed by rejuvenation or death he cannot progress. 

The same rule is applicable to food and nourishment. 
Food and drink is first taken Avith avidity, a keen 
appetite making eating one of the pleasures of life. The 
well-regulated body, however, knows the limit of its 
energy and indicates the time when partaking of food 
must cease. The energy used in digesting and elabor- 
ating food as nourishment of the body is equal in amount 
to the sustenance and energy derived therefrom. Al- 
though the processes of metabolism and katabolism are 
not exactly simultaneous, the balance must at some time 
be struck. The energy which the body acquires through 
food is not the energy of the Unit of Force which dom- 
inates the body. Food energy is the energy of forces 
which the dominant unit guides and controls. The life 
force of any body is merely force consciously applied at 
critical points, to regulate and repair. Other forces 
within the body work automatically, and are not life 
forces except for themselves. There is no conscious force 
except that of the Unit of Force. All else is alien matter, 
and no more a part of man's complete body than his 
clothing, the house in which he lives and the moving air. 
The quantity of food the body can assimilate depends 
upon the amount of co-operating units and elements 
the Unit of Force maintains. The energy w^hich the Unit 
can manifest or release depends on how well he has regu- 
lated and laid out his plans. Inasmuch, however, as 
manifestation of energy to him is nothing except as it 



126 PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL. 

awakens consciousness, he limits himself to maintaining 
senses active and keen, and motion sufficient to give them 
a variety of experiences. 

With reference to stimulants and narcotics, it must be 
that the temporary exhilaration or pleasurable feeling 
(through a release of energy resulting in consciousness) 
is always balanced by the effort and pain of repairing 
the damage. 

A weak man loses his grip and pulls himself together. 
In this he applies his energy to co-ordinate and repair. 
Harmonious action is repeated rhythmically until diverted 
by internal forces. 

Emotion is enervating because it is energy applied 
externally and lodged in cause and effect until reaction 
has returned it to its source. 

Anger breaks out because man charges his body with 
energy tending toward certain things, and it may require 
a serious expenditure of new energy to repair the damage. 

Music conquers chaos because it sets a harmonic pat- 
tern with which the body is already in sympathy, and 
may readily copy. 

We shall not attempt to give further illustrations of 
the manifold equations of energy, and may well leave 
this fruitful field to others. The poise of which this 
chapter speaks is but th^ recognition of the reality of 
such equilibrated forces and the preserving of approxi- 
mate balance. It is realizing the value of energy too 
precious to be wasted, for it purchases all there is. 
This understanding can result only from experience. It 
is the wares brought home by the rich freighter which has 
sailed the stormy seas of many lives. It is a breaking of 
force lines which brings together by a new path diverse 
things, so that the memory thereby escapes its bondage 
to the chain of events, and sees primal causes and effects. 
It is a short cut between things you are interested in, 
rearranging the pattern of the beads spun by the loom 
of time. Through it we behold Units of Force, the 
whole in quality, conditioning all the universe which is 



POISE. 127 

not we — but He is not a perfect God without us. 

If one watches an acrobat walking a tight rope, he will 
get some idea of the finesse of balance, a poise conditioned 
on one central thought, that of maintaining a position 
essential to walking the rope. But to keep this possi- 
bility valid, a multiplicity of attitudes must be assumed, 
any attitude that prevents falling and helps toward the 
ultimate aim. It is the much mooted law of the one and 
the many, and the many and the one over and over again ; 
one purpose, a single straightforward idea, maintained 
by an intricate and surprising variety of conditions nec- 
essary to its preservation. The athlete on the tight rope 
leans this way and that. If not expert, he bows and 
bends, plunges forward, throws himself back, extends 
his arms, elevates and drops them, the nicest quantity of 
weight ever in his mind ; his movements automatic rather 
than conscious, for he thinks only of one thing, the main- 
tenance of his balance in crossing this perilous bridge. 
Man, in spanning the chasm between birth and death, 
walks a fearfully narrow path. Gravitation pulls him 
toward the abyss below, a thousand things — the sky, the 
stars, the almost ravishing beauty of his environment — 
line his eves and mind from the chief idea, that of main- 
taining himself balanced betw^een attraction and repul- 
sion, an individual still, neither overwhelmed by the spell 
of gravity nor the charm of beauty. To poise is the art 
of the mental athlete. He may be young and the path 
new ; perhaps he will bend and writhe and distort himself 
in order to hold his own and keep true to his aim. Dig- 
nity in the exacting struggle has not yet arrived, but 
practice in time will make of him a sublime figure, beau- 
tifully poised, with but slight outer indication of the 
dangers assailing him. Erect, sraightforward, clean cut, 
he will march to the goal beyond, upheld by the law of 
rhythmic balance, happy in his supremacy over difficul- 
ties, complete and absolute in his majesty of will. 



151 20 1908 



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